Access without charge for eyes, ears and teeth
As from January 1st 2020……
……all opticians should carry a range of free glasses, including both lenses and frames.
Where dental treatment is concerned, ‘free’ appears to be a bit of an exaggeration but dentists are reducing their extremely high charges for non-preventative treatment, such as crowns and implants, the state will increase reimbursement for routine care, and the mutuelles or top up insurances will offer more options for basic dental cover.
Hearing aids will be included from 2021.
Do shop around for your mutuelle as a good top up policy can make an enormous difference to the amount you will pay for your health care. Bear in mind too that the price of the policy can differ vastly from one insurer to another, so always worth asking for several quotes!
Glasses, dental prostheses, hearing aids… As part of the so-called “100% health” reform, certain optical, auditory and dental equipment are to be fully reimbursed by the Sécurité sociale.
Published in the Journal officiel on 12th January 2019, the procedures for the gradual introduction of full reimbursement and supplementary health insurance will be implemented over the next few years.
100% Santé
According to l’Assurance Maladie, 6 million people in France suffer from hearing impairment but only a third have hearing aids; a rate much lower than other European countries. Likewise, people living in France visit the dentist less frequently than their European counterparts.
In a bid to improve access to health care, the “100% health” scheme will set maximum rates, which will be progressively reduced until full coverage is achieved.
As an example, hearing aids are reimbursed by l’Assurance Maladie on the basis of 60% of a flat rate that varies according to age and disability. Above this amount, supplementary health insurance then comes into effect, if covered by the terms of your contract, which can be costly!
Reste à charge
On average, the amount not covered by l’Assurance Maladie for hearing aids is 850€ per ear, for a dental crown you can expect a bill of 195€ and for glasses, 65€ (for a total cost of 290€).
Between now and 2021, this remaining amount will gradually decrease until 100% of the cost is covered by Sécurtié sociale.
More precisely, the measures will apply to contracts subscribed or renewed as from 1st January 2020 for glasses and dental prostheses and as from 1st January 2021 for hearing aids.
