Been with current mutuelle for around two years, and they are totally incompetent and unprofessional.
They didn’t reimburse me a cent for the first 10 months I was with them, and it took several emails and phone calls with the broker to get the reimbursements that I was entitled to.
The mutuelle got slightly better, but it has now resorted back to it’s old level of awful service.
I don’t get reimbursed automatically, which is one thing that the broker promised me the mutuelle would do. For some unknown reason the mutuelle doesn’t have an automatic link to my social security caisse which is MSA, even though 5 million+ people in France belong to MSA!
I have to send everything manually via my broker, and then chase the reimbursements with lots of emails over periods of several weeks.
We were with our original mutuelle for 17 years, and only changed after the broker company was sold, and the service became totally awful - they also failed to reimburse anything without being chased for several months, so we feel like we’ve gone from bad to worse!
We’re french speaking, but looking for a mutuelle that has an english speaking service as it’s just that bit easier. We’d welcome any recommendations for a mutuelle who reimburse automatically, and who actually fulfil their contractual obligations. Thanks
Moi aussi. 
Thanks for the quick response, Chris K. Just did an online quote on the fabfrenchinsurance site, and got quotes for 3 levels of cover with April International. Unfortunately, April International is my current ‘incompetent and unprofessional’ mutuelle!! Recommendations for any other mutuelles much appreciated.
I’m almost certain that @fabien can respond to that - if there are issues with that provider, I’m sure he would like to know more detail - perhaps in a PM to him.
OK, will contact him next week - perhaps he has another mutuelle he can recommend…
April International is the only English Speaking policy on the French market. We are a “premium broker” so the level of service is better than we other brokers BUT the core of your issues seems to come from your “caisse” (fund) which in your case is MSA. Not all mutuelles can work with MSA automatically and April is not one of them so that issue will remain and basically almost all of the “cheap” options are focused on the standard “caisse” (CPAM). We do have other options but they are all more expensive (quite a lot more sometimes) but you can contact us over email on the contact form (Get in Touch - Fab French Insurance) or though the chatbox and we’ll be happy to advise.
@SamBam also consider the level of cover you actually need to subscribe to if price is important to you.
(Remembering always that there is a huge difference between price and cost - the cost may be low but the ultimate price may be higher than you like).
Hospital only cover for example which I know some on SF elect for.
Share your needs with @fabien and I’m sure he’ll find something suited to your needs.
Thanks for contacting me, Fabien. The issue with April International goes further than the fact that they don’t have a direct link with MSA . I have to painstakingly scan and send each MSA statement via the broker, so even when April have my claims, I am NEVER reimbursed before I’ve chased them, or the broker, several times over several weeks. I receive a really unprofessional service from April International regarding payments that they owe me, even though they manage to take out my payments to them on time, every month! We were with Ascore, via Exclusive Healthcare for around 17 years, but Exclusive Healthcare were taken over and the mutuelle changed to a very unreliable one. We pay for a reasonable level of cover (not the most expensive, and not the cheapest), so let me know if there are any other mutuelles that you could recommend, please.
we have a mutuelle with Swiss Life (which @fabien arranged) which does pay us promptly and without any hassle.
It’s certainly not the cheapest but somewhere in another topic Fabien posted some statistics about customer satisfaction.
But, remember, that provider might not be the best one for your circumstances. Seek the appropriate advice - it’s what Fabien and his team do 
Just to be clear - I do not receive any back-handers or commission for recommending Fabien - I’m just a very happy customer and pleased to recommend him from direct experience.
Exclusive Healthcare used to be my top competitor as their pricing and quality of service was simply unbeatable in France. I think this was due to an old relationship the founder had with the insurance company but when they sold things changed rapidly, first the pricing and then the quality of service (they are 5 times bigger than us in terms of turnover and operate with 2 times fewer people I think this speaks for itself). April International offers better quality of service to “premium brokers” and only 10 premium brokers across France (including ourselves) so it might not be directy your broker’s fault if they’re not premium they just don’t have access to the same quality of service and there is nothing they can do about it. I would rather advise for a mutuelle or insurer that can work with MSA automatically 
Thanks for the support graham, much appreciated 
Graham, by that do you mean low premiums but short on payout?
A fellow SFista is auditing the costs/reimbursements [state and mute] for a serious bout of surgery, hospital stay and convalescence, as the figures come in. All in aid of calculating the benefits/costs of the treatment & mute and to help me make some decisions, should I get round to needing to renewing Denise.
I keep saying I will look at it "when I’ve paid for … " The latest was €1100 on the car - all advisories, at that.
Now I’m about to enter €27,26 onto my daily bank rec for ibuprophens/paracetamols from the pharm which would have cost <£5 off the shelf in Tescbury.
The pills are because I have toothache. The first RdV at the dental clinic in the hospital here is 23 Oct. Enquiries at other dental clinics in Vire and others within 40kms reveal that none are taking new patients. I’m advised to try Caen [I hr] or Paris.
I wish the FR would take to the streets to protest against the ‘medical deserts’. The local paper ran a petition via change.org but it will not resound in the gilded halls of Macronville like the pension demo tomorrow. Even here, in bucolic Vire, some shops and all the banks are having their windows boarded up, in anticipation of window smashing grade trouble.
Altogether, rather depressing
We monitored our costs for two years when we had a mutuelle. We lost out every year by at €500- €1000. Now we have a hospital policy only which happily have yet to use, but we even with paying for the mutuelle part of stuff we are quids in.
However, most of my costs are covered by an ALD and we are in good health otherwise. So this works for us, it may not for you.
Very much a personal decision.
(€7.50 visit to GP to get prescription would have knocked cost back to under €8.)
@captainendeavour
As I understand things… the Mutuelle will deliver whatever cover one has decided to opt for… and, of course, one hopes never to need to use it… but…
So… check your bank balance and see if you can comfortably pay for the cost of a possibly extended hospital stay, treatments and possibly rehabilitation… if you can’t, then Mutuelle seems like a good idea… I reckon.
I’ve just a hospitalisation only contract for many years and was pleased that it covered a day case (hospitalisation ambulatoire) for an Endoscopy/Colonoscopy last year(I’d never thought to check)Apivia Macif .
As I’m getting on a bit I’ll probably look into more cover at some stage.
Advantage with having a policy is you can increase cover quickly…
We’re with April International and the service can be ropey. We had some issues recently when the OH went in for a knee replacment. We tried to put everything in place from April months before she was due to go into hospital, and they repeatedly buggered up the prise en charge for the hospital. We had to phone a colleague of Fabien to try to sort it out 2 days before the OH was due to go into hospital, and it was magically sorted within an hour. Bizarrely, after the op, they paid back a charge which the prise en charge specifically said they would not pay, which was a nice surprise !