How Easy Can That Be in France?

Disagree entirely. Having a mutuelle cost us an extra 1,500€ + a year

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Depends on the level of mutuelle though, doesn’t it? And also the amount of consultations the person is having. My mutuelle is, at the moment, costing me a bit more than I would be paying if I didn’t have one but that could change at any time of course (Hope it doesn’t though :smiley: )

Hi Jane, in France we call this a “mutuelle” because the point is that some people are paying more so that others can pay less, it’s supposed a balanced system and the insurer’s margins are tighly monitored (which means they are not allowed to make too much money so that the system remains fair for the persons insured). With the new 100% regulations, if you need a prothesis or even just a couple of crowns you would get back much more than you’re paying I can guarantee that :wink: (just an example but to illustrate the point). And there is always the unexpected hospitalisation to be factored in where you can be asked to pay upfront for those without a mutuelle… But of course, I’m selling those policies so to be taken with a bucket of salt by definition lol

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You should have been refunded 70% of 75e so clearly something went wrong. The system works perfectly well once you are in it and contrary to (some) people’s assertions, does not vary from user to user. (There was some woman on FB recently maintaining that a carte vitale won’t cover you if you go to A&E. Her ‘friend’ knew categorically that a CV only covers you in case of illness). FFS is all I can say!

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Every good reason for using SF as the go to resource rather than some of the FB groups…

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We had our jab at our Dr’s. He just said wait for five or ten minutes if you feel you need to.
As there were people in what is quite a small waiting area, we legged it.

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I do grasp what a mutuelle is…and have one. And I think with a mutuelle rather than an insurance group.

It is just that often the received wisdom is that you MUST have one, and have one that covers everything even if your eyes and teeth are in perfect condition. Because we are relatively healthy, with functional eyes and teeth, tend to use public hospitals rather than private clinics, and have no hypochondriacal tendencies we are content with a hospital policy. And now have nearly €5k in the piggy bank in case we called it wrong… selfish perhaps, but in all the years we had a full mutuelle it seemed we were the ones paying more so others could benefit. And it started getting silly.

We will probably change back in a few years once things start to crumble more…

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I think it smells of sick

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Hmm. I had functional eyes until one morning when my right retina detached and tore. No prior warning at all. Not even in the ophtalmologie exam the week before…

Teenage son trainer …

Indeed, 'tis true. The children of my ex used to call it ‘powdered sick’ because she could only afford to buy those tiny tubs of the stuff - until I came along and bought the real thing.

That’s the dilemma and, to my mind, a major flaw in the system. People are put in a postion, depending on their resources, of gambling with their health. “Can we eke out another couple of years at this level before taking on more expense to cover what might happen?”

It’s clear from some of the comments here that people are taking that guess - a punt - and hoping for the best. As I confront the system and the choices, having ‘joined the system’ just a month ago, I am in that category.

It has been pointed out somewhere in the above that ‘most French people’ are covered by their employers’ dues. To them, this gap between state coverage and the bottom line is invisible.

I wonder if the French wiped the slate clean and decided to start from scratch they would come up, as the old countryman says when being asked directions, “You want to go where? Well, best you don’t start from 'ere…”

I can’t imagine what it must have cost when I had two weeks in hospital and not a private clinic either, when I had pancreatitis and then my gall bladder removed and sent to Lyon twice for endoscopies.
More than 5k I imagine.

Me too Jane, 10 days in hospital (private room full ensuite, not asked for) and 2 operations, the 2nd to correct a side effect of the first and performed by a surgeon specially coming in on a Sunday. My green card was simply waved away as I walked out with not a penny contribution towards the thousands to pay.

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My wife used to teach deaf children long ago in the dim and distant past. One day (I don’t remember the details) she had her class blindfolded and then given about 6 containers to sniff and describe what was in them; one containing the aforementioned pregrated parmesan from a packet. The consensus from the class was indeed “Sick” but what amuses me most is that they thought a teacher would have puked into a container for this exercise. :smirk:

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What’s a green card?

Green card aka CV

Carte Verte, green card, carte vitale, it’s vital, and green. :wink: :slightly_smiling_face:

I applied for one of those on 9th Dec. Exactly 4 months later, to the day, I got a billy doo from some digitising centre in Le Mans asking for a mug-shot and a digitised signature.

Things are really cooking with gas at CPAM Normandy! :smirk:

This is what I find so confusing. On the one hand David’s experience and on the other being billed for the Covid jab. Albeit with something coming back when the ‘brown form’ has been processed.

Your Ameli statement will probably detail this. And if in a normal public hospital and you didn’t request a private room or a TV, or anaesthetist /surgeon who were secteur 2 then probably 20€ a day, or 280€. Endoscopies the % at your charge probably no more than two hundred each. So rather than 5,000 could well have been 500. But as ever with French health care the devil is in the detail.