Mutuelle Racket

I paid my mutual insurance for 16 years at 50 euros a month and was never ill.

So I stopped.

Close to 10k I could have put in a savings account.

Is Al Capone still running rackets in France?

David

Not exactly, you had piece of mind - had you been ill it would have been covered.

Do you consider car or home insurance in the same way? Ie if you haven’t claimed you would have been better not to have had a policy?

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That is the basis of insurance!

A mutuelle is not obligatory so it was your choice to join one. It strikes me that perhaps you are a person who does things, and then does the research afterwards? It’s often a good idea to do it the other way round :wink:. We didn’t get a mutuelle for many years as were in reasonable health with eyes ans teeth that worked ok. Mow we just have hospital cover.

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My advice is put money into a savings account.

10k given and they give nothing back? Never draw on it at all? Give me a break. Robbery.

All clearly set out in the contract!

But isn’t it great that in all those years you never had a serious medical incident and stayed healthy…some medical interventions can cost upwards of €25,000 if you want top quality specialists. So ok your mutuelle never had to pay out but isn’t that better that neither did you have to experience anything horrid?

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It works both ways, say you heaven forbid had a stroke/heart attack/cancer etc and needed a lot of hospital care, 10k could easily disappear in costs to the mutual.
It’s the nature of insurance, it’s a bet on whether you will be ill or not, it was your choice to take out the insurance no one forced you to take it on and pay it

And no one forced you to take the policy

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It’s health insurance - WTF did you actually expect. They’d pay out for you being healthy?? - that’s not how it works.

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Be very careful what you wish for with health insurance - would you seriously like to have made some big claims to justify the expense!

Mmmmm?

It isn’t just me is t ? There is a lot of shall we say interesting activity on here at the moment

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Isn’t there just :thinking:

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I have muted the interesting activity’ so I don’t have to read any more of it :slight_smile:

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we’ve gone for hospital cover, it’s a bit like any insurance you don’t want it until you need it!
I was extremely glad of travel insurance when involved in a hit and run in the USA. Both of us in hospital and my husband’s bill almost reached a million USD!

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With a mutuelle, you have to bear in mind that you are also covered (partly) by the state.
a stroke/heart attack/cancer etc needed a lot of hospital care, 10k could easily disappear in costs to the mutual.
My wife has had cancer, and the additional costs to us over and above the state part was nothing like 10k, and for the last years, everything is “prise en charge” if related as it’s a “maladie longue durée”
We did the research comparing the costs of mutuelle vs the costs of medical care, and decided that apart from teeth, there realy is no benefit from the insurance.

The French system of ALDs is great, but there are only 30 of them. So many other expensive illnesses don’t qualify. Plus you are only covered to the Social Security level of reimbursement, not the actual cost. With my ALD there are a couple of thing where the 100% cover is in fact only a fraction of the cost I have to pay.

A tip-top anaesthetist and a back surgeon can charge many, many times the SS fixed level.

So if you have complex medical problems that you wish to be treated by experts in the field at specialist clinics it can cost you many thousands.
Which is why we too have hospital only cover.

Although I have been perfectly happy with the care I’ve received from local public hospital for a couple of minor ops, I potentially might need heart surgery and neurosurgery. If so, I will be heading to specialists in Lyon or Paris…

Heavens Jane - that sounds tough. And by the way, what does your new avatar mean please?

Everything fine for minute…but like having options thought through.

Symbol of international women’s day …need to change it again today!

Thanks Jane, I probably should have known that! But unfortunately these days there are so many “days” that I tend to ignore most of them.


:blush:

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