Our experience with Insurance and tops ups. I hope this is useful

One was on a ‘cold’ call on the phone the other as your Fabien! I am very rural and difficult to get help with translating. Will not give up but I think only need hospital cover and transport to specialist and emergency facilities in a city 50 miles away.

One was on a ‘cold’ call on the phone the other was your Fabien! I am very rural and difficult to get help with translating. Will not give up but I think only need hospital cover and transport to specialist and emergency facilities in a city 50 miles away.

What did the cold-caller say about your requirements ? :thinking:

You can perhaps visit your Bank and talk with someone face to face… :thinking:

If you have told Fabien what your requirements are… he will offer various policies which match…

Wherever you go, it is up to you to check what the policies say…and make your own choice.

Fabien was very helpful … with emails flying back and forth… but, in the end, it is down to the client to make the decision… and I took my time, translating carefully … before making my choice.

I suggest you do the same… :relaxed::relaxed:

We have happily used Fabien. The man is a saint, patient and efficient. We have gone to hospital insurance only as as the initial post pointed out the 100% re-imboursement does not mean quite that with the mutuelles. but it took us a while to find out. We are now in the process of usinf Fabien for our new car and will probably move the first one to him in the new year.

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@Stella Absolutely, Stella, none of us can forsee health problems which can be major.
One british friend who has been resident in France for 28 years has smashed her kneecap while canyoning, broke a shoulder when knocked off a bike (needed a shoulder joint replacement, residential rehab for 6 weeks, then ongoing physio for 2 years), and has had quite a few other issues…all in her 40s and 50s. Her mutuelle has been more than a good return on money, especially as it covered her 4 children until they finished uni too.

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Hi Margaret, Sorry I missed your comment. You can contact me so I’ll be able to advise you accordingly to the situation => fabien@pepite-courtage.com (not working until next Monday though :wink: )

We got in touch indeed but Fay wants the documentation to be in English (including terms & conditions, etc.). Being an independent broker I can only provide what the companies are issuing and 98% of the time this is in French.

I’m happy to help translating bits and pieces when the automatic translation doesn’t make sense or simply for those who need some extra guidance / advise but I cannot provide things I do not have :wink:

And as Stella said, we are in France so ultimately the legally bonding documents have to be written in French. As for the translation, as much as I’d like to help I cannot endorse the responsibility of translating official documents which would then bond my public liability in the event of a bad translation.

I know some agents can provide documents in English as they represent the company directly and therefore can speak on their behalf but brokers cannot.

Happy to answer any question if there was any kind of misunderstanding.

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Have you asked friends and neighbours? As we are very rural and there are a couple of insurance firms that have a rep in the nearby small town one morning a week. You might find it easier to discuss face to face.

However I would be surprised if you could find a mutuelle that will cover transport that isn’t covered by the current system. Presumably you do know about the “prise en charge” system for a taxi if you need to travel for appointments?

For a while now… the occasions of having Transport paid for… have diminished greatly… and on the rare occasion… are only available by Medicial Prescription…

As a general rule the Mutuelle… clicks in when the Social pays a part of whatever expense… (depending on the level of cover you decide on). If the Social does NOT pay part of the Transport… I am wondering if there is a chance of the Mutuelle paying anything… ??? :thinking:

Many thanks Jane, will look into getting a transport prescription. He only gave me letters for the specialist I asked for. I have had a Carte Vitale for 15 years and not used the service much. We have an English speaking doc. The clinic used to have 3 docs but now down to only him. No receptioniste. If I phone for an appointment have to leave a message and he calls back. Next door neighbour is a ‘retired’ doc but he was roped in to work part, then full time with a clinic in another town. he also works in the nearest city one day a week. Rural docs are scarce. My neighbours are unable/unwilling to speak English. One comes to me if she needs help for her U.K. calls.

I thought you needed a medical prescription/authorisation for all transport, even with an ALD? But yes, I agree with you that v. unlikely that a mutuelle will pay anything unless the social security are contributing, ie yiu have a prise en charge.

Do, you could be pleasantly surprised. Quite often doctors won’t offer this automatically, you have to ask.

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I was taken to hospital 45km away (under the magic 50km…) by pompiers… after several hours in emergency… and with my hand/arm in plaster… I was able to leave… but had to arrange my own transport. There was too much snow, so friends could not come and get me… and the hospital phoned for a taxi… and it cost me 78 euro…

Ouch! I thought entry & exit to/from hospital was always eligible for a prise en charge…obviously not!

The pompiers ambulance bill would have been paid through Social/Mutuelle as it was an emergency… I had fallen in the snow… ouch…

But they were not prepared to send my home by ambulance/similar… fair enough.