Hello, We have a WARP CDS, S1 + CV.
Cancelled top up health insurance to pay the percentage CPAM don’t pay due to travelling a lot. When home in France we wing it hoping nothing happens for us to be hospitalised but do worry if it did happen as we wouldn’t have the funds for a stay in hospital.
Upon cancellation the insurance agent informed us that one can take a top up policy out on the day you’re admitted to hospital.
Not so sure I trust this. 
Has anyone else done this and not paid anything or very little please or know that this can be done? Link to any info on this? Thanks for reading and answering in advance.
On the day you are admitted to hospital they want your carte vitale and other paperwork and how could you physically take out an insurance at the same time, most policies have to be in place for a while before being used. If you are under a certain income you can apply for the CSS like my cover and pay nothing or very little but the criteria is strict and you normally have to have paid into the system via working here first or be known to the authorities who deal with such things. Whatever happens you need to have sufficient cover - it can run into thousands of euros if you are badly injured or ill for some time needing treatment (my OH ran up a bill of over €18,000 for a week in reanimation but I only had to pay €200 inthe end because he was covered and had ALD protection)
It sounds risky to me. All depends what you are admitted to hospital for but you might not necessarily be in any fit state to sit down and start filling in forms to apply for a new policy while you wait for SAMU to arrive.
If you decide to do this I think you should at least do the research beforehand so that you know which providers allow this because I think most do not. If you have a provider bookmarked then taking out the policy should be a quicker process.
I imagine that providers who have no délai de carence will be more expensive for obvious reasons.
We have hospital only top-up which is much more affordable.
We have had nothing major wrong with us over last 12 months just little things- colonoscopy, excising growths, retinal surgery etc and it has paid good dividends.
And since I have a policy I can increase the level with a phone call.
The one time I could have benefited from this it was simply not possible.
I had what I thought was a cold or possibly lung infection. My MT sent me to hospital where a serious condition was diagnosed and I was sent straight to intensive care. There was no way I could have researched and successfully applied for a mutuelle under those circumstances.
Even with a CV, my share of the 4 day stay was nearly 2000€.
When I was discharged I took up a mutuelle as soon as possible. Shopping around and finalising the deal took 2-3 weeks.
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I have French friends who have a mutuelle and when they know they have a particular procedure coming up that would be better covered at a higher level (eg dental work) they will increase their cover for the year in which the work is done and then the following year drop back down again. The impression I get is that this is accepted practice between client and insurer. But it is planned and certainly not done at the last minute.
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My wife recently did this for her cataract operations. Surprising that it’s possible.
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When you received your bill for €2000 did you have a letter similar the the following quote from a letter which my OH received in her ameli account.
'To prevent a one-off payment from unbalancing your budget, you will regularly receive a notice of a maximum amount of €50.00 until the balance of the amount you owe is paid.
This notice (reference: 1612503600011868F) requests a payment of €4.00 within 30 days. Attached you will find a precise summary of the care to which this sum relates.
As a reminder, under the previous notices you also remain liable for the sum of
€49.50] for the notice of 06/26/2024 (reference: 1612417800017195F),
€34.00 for the notice of 10/31/2024 (reference: 1612430500004689F).
This amount may be too high for your means, you can contact the Accounting and Financial Director of your CPAM to establish a payment schedule corresponding to your payment capacity.’
What I would like to know is if you receive a substantial bill of say €4000 or €5000 would CPAM expect immediate payment or would they be flexible and allow you to pay it over several years? I was surprised about the bit about only requesting a max of €50 per month
It depends if the bill is from CPAM or a hospital. CPAM bills are generally small as are the forfait and franchises. Hospitals can be large bills but will agree payment plans, although several years might be pushing it.
My situation was clearly different in that I’m privately insured. However when admitted to a high dependency unit following an accident, I was in no fit state whatsoever to be alerting insurers and asking for their approval to receive care. I had no phone, or insurance papers on me, or even ID. The high dependency unit charges around 1700 a day…I was in that hospital for 7 days. You have to pay it personally, then claim it back if private. Nearly 10€k! I cannot imagine trying to find and select a new policy, and handle all the paperwork probably in a state of some shock or pain…
Yes indeed - if you take out a mutuelle with Credit Agricole, that is what they actually encourage you to do. As you say though, that is for pre-planned treatment and also only applies if you already have a mutuelle with them. As I am just coming up to needing new hearing aids, that’s what I shall probably be doing .
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Yes, but I paid the full amount on receipt so didn’t bother with the stage payment offer
But a friend who stayed with me on holiday needed emergency treatment while here in France. When the bill arrived she did take up the staffed payment offer and 50€/month was offered, but she paid back at a higher rate - about 200€/month.