Free glasses and dentistry in France... for 2022

People who cannot afford a good mutuelle health insurance will receive dental prosthetics, hearing aids and glasses free, Health Minister Agnès Buzyn has confirmed – but it will not start before 2022.

Reimbursement rates for such items are very low – for glasses, it is just 60% of €2.84 for frames and 60% of €2.29 for basic lenses, while costs can be more than 100 times that. Ms Buzyn said the government was in talks with the three sectors on cutting costs and aimed to have developed plans by June. Dentistry would be the first to be covered as it had the simplest system.

Ms Buzyn said tinted glasses and other high-end equipment would not be covered.