Minister listens to pleas for better hearing aid refunds

The comments by Marisol Touraine came after Les Rép­ub­licains MP, Denis Jacquat, spoke out about “the thing that is eternally forgotten in recent health laws – the fact that the part of costs patients have to pay out of their pockets for hearing aids is much too high”.

Ms Touraine admitted hearing aids were “causing worry”.

She said a recent reform had extended a low “social rate” price to beneficiaries of the ACS (which helps lower-income families have top-up insurance) as well as to people on the CMU-C (full reimbursement scheme for those on the lowest incomes). However, she hoped to go further.

“We are balancing the social security books and the health system situation is improving… We will put in place better hearing aid reimbursement bit by bit as improve­ments allow for it – which should rapidly become possible now.”
The hearing aid industry’s national federation Unsaf said €100m a year from the government could cut the typical cost for the user (of about €1,000 per ear) in half, but could in turn create health savings of up to €2billion.
This would be because studies have shown that having a hearing aid improves people’s quality of life, reduces consumption of medicines and helps maintain autonomy.
A report by Assurance Mal­a­die last month said that in 2015, 630,000 hearing aids were sold to more than 360,000 patients and that there had been a 6.6% growth since 2006.
It said the average cost of a hearing aid was €1,500, so the 71% of patients needing two aids would pay €3,000. In a market worth €1bn, just €134m had been reimbursed by Assurance Maladie.
...ONE way in which people can seek to reduce their hearing aid costs is to be treated via an audioprosthetist (hearing aid specialist) who is part of a so-called réseau de soins.

Using these is also popular in other areas of care with poor reimbursement, including dentists and opticians, though they may also include clinics offering medical specialities such as cardiology and dermatology.
Réseaux de soins are networks established by top-up insurance providers, and the professionals who join them agree to offer especially competitive rates in return for the work that is funnelled their way.
Selection criteria used by the top-ups in theory make sure that there is also no compromise on quality.

Studies have found that reductions compared to usual rates can be as much as 10-50%. Users of these also benefit from le tiers payant (no upfront payment to make for the reimbursed part).
Some top-up providers may belong to a network with an internet platform for users to find professionals, such as carteblanchepartenaires.fr, santevlair.fr, kalivia-sante.fr, terciane.com or seveane.com
Check with your top-up provider to see if it allows for access to one of these.