When I first took out the insurance it was approx 37€ a month and stayed at that for a few years. Once I turned 50 it went up a bit and I'm now paying 42€ a month. Given I live somewhere that is very slippery for about 6 months of the year and partake in, for now 2 dangerous sports (hoping to add a couple more in the coming years, but nothing to do with cycles!!) and I have form for falling over my own feet even indoors, I have to assume that I'll need doctors at some point!!cheb wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2023 8:55 am Roughly how much is the top up health insurance?
I try to avoid any of the optional insurances, based on how infrequently I would have claimed versus the savings of repeated 'Only £8.99 per month sir' blandishments. I've never lost a bunch of keys nor a phone for example. The only exception is when hiring a car, I have all the bells and whistles on that one.
But, it also covers normal doctors and specialists. Because the GPs up here are private (due to it being a ski resort) you have to pay for each appointment @ 25€ a throw. So I pay that and then get it back through the government Carte Vitale system and the mutuelle. When I went to the gyne last week I had to pay 30€ but I'll get that back as with the GP costs (that appointment included a full women's MOT - well, not the squishy bit, luckily - as well as a prescription!). Prescriptions are also covered - some meds are 100% covers by the government part (cancer, HRT, thyroid and probably others) and the rest are 70/30. Although I did get a quote recently for a mutuelle that only covers one GP visit a year
Weirdly in France, you have to pay for contraceptives (so I'm told) but not for HRT!! I suppose it isn't weird given the main religion, but it's weird to me!! LOL
My physio is 25€ a throw and I know the shoulder op went into the 1000's€. Guessing the plate in the leg was around a grand? The five months residential rehab plus the 2.5 months for the leg/shoulder probably adds up to 10's of thousands. All covered.
Maybe most people wouldn't bother with the rehab centres for basic injuries (no idea how often it's offered and for what exactly, but know a friend stayed for a few weeks post cruciate op),but for me, if I had had the shoulder op I did here but in the uk, I would have no use of my right arm - this was the Bristol surgeon who told me that (probably partly due to different attitudes but mostly due to the lack of decent rehab). I was told that the inverse shoulder replacement is only to relieve pain, not to gain movement. But, I can lift my arm to 90 degrees and actually use it reasonably well in most normal situations. Some are more difficult than others, and I've not seen my best physio since April cos he's not been here, so things aren't so good right now.
I do appreciate that I might not 'need' any medical treatment for the next 10 years so might be 'wasting' 43€+ a month for the next ten years. However, given the FUF nature of my balance, previous form etc, I do think that for me (especially as someone that will probably only be able to earn seasonally and even then not loads) it is totally worth it. The shoulder surgeon has already told me I'll need the metalwork replaced within the next ten years, so . . . . . . .
Sorry - probably too much info!! But giving the price of insurance without some of the costs of medical treatment seemed to not really show a balance. Obviously I have friends that maybe see a GP once a year and have never seen the inside of a hospital so they don't see why they should have insurance
