Mutuelles refused cover on age grounds
Several mutuelles have refused me top-up health insurance as I am over-75. What can I do? G.B.
It may seem discriminatory, but it is not illegal for top-up health insurers to refuse to insure someone on the grounds of their advancing age. Some top-up contracts also have clauses ending the cover after a certain age, such as 65 or 75 (they can only do so if the contract clearly states this), or in other cases reducing the level of cover.
However that does not mean that it is impossible to obtain good mutuelle top-up cover in older age, you just need to find a suitable firm and policy: we would suggest looking for one marketed as being une mutuelle sénior.
Suitable ones include ones with a garantie viagère – that is to say it covers you for life, however long you live. Ones marketed as being solidaires are also likely to be suitable, avoiding any reduction in advantages linked to age. Some firms offer policies specifically for people living in Ehpads (nursing homes).
You might like to try a search on lesfurets.com (a popular French policy comparison site, which has signed up to a government good practice charter on online commerce).
When choosing a mutuelle look at the guarantees it covers, for example does it have good cover for dépassements d’honoraires (the part above and beyond the standard state fee) by specialists like cardiologists, or for glasses or dental prostheses? For hospitalisation it is preferable to have a policy with no limit on the length of stay that is covered by the policy.
Older people who struggle financially to pay for a top-up policy may find they are eligible for ACS (Aide à l’acquisition d’une couverture maladie complémentaire)that helps those on lower incomes (less than €11,894/year for a single person) pay for cover. You apply via your Cpam. Those on the lowest incomes may instead obtain the CMU-C, a status which replaces the need for such a policy.
