2023-09-26 13:05:43
“Supplementary health insurance has taken an increasingly important role in recent years in relation to compulsory health insurance,” underlines health economist Carine Milcent. ursula – stock.adobe.com
A couple aged 60 with enhanced guarantees must pay on average more than 250 euros per month, or more than 3,000 euros per year. An increase of almost 5% over one year, notes a study by Meilleurtaux Assurances.
Fever notice on the prices of health supplements. A study carried out by Meilleurtaux Assurances and published this Tuesday highlights the notable increase in prices this year, particularly for seniors. A couple aged 60 with enhanced guarantees must now pay on average more than 250 euros per month (or more than 3,000 euros per year) to benefit from additional coverage. An increase of almost 5% over one year.
«If the French health budget occupies a growing and particularly inflationary place in the 55-60 year old bracket, it can sometimes reach exorbitant prices in the 60-70 year old bracket.», Notes the insurance comparator study. For a 70-year-old senior couple with enhanced guarantees, the average price of complementary health insurance reaches more than 300 euros per month. As for the youngest, if the prices logically have nothing to do with it, they also remain on the rise. Count on 34 euros per month on average for a young, single worker aged 25 with traditional guarantees (+34% in one year), and 100 euros per month (+2.5%) for a couple of employees in their thirties, with two dependent children. of 3 and 7 years, and a classic level of guarantees.
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Wide variations depending on the territories
Price increases which do not surprise Carine Milcent. The research director at the CNRS and professor at the Paris School of Economics (PSE) justifies them by the growing weight of mutual societies in the healthcare reimbursement policy. “Supplementary health insurance has taken an increasingly important role in recent years in relation to compulsory health insurance, explains the health economist, citing in particular the “100% Health” reform, which came into force in 2021. As the support basket expands, supplementary workers increase their level of contributions.»
It is important to understand that the figures from the Meilleurtaux Assurances study – taken from internal data collected in August 2023 from 900,000 rates – are national averages. Because the prices of complementary health insurance vary widely depending on the territory, notes the study. That “may be due to a different consumption of care and a more or less systematic practice of exceeding fees», observes the insurance comparator. “The provision of care and the share of practitioners in sectors 1, 2 or 3 is different depending on the territory», corroborates Carine Milcent.
It is thus in Île-de-France and in Bouches-du-Rhône that we find the highest monthly payments. And, conversely, in the three departments of Alsace-Moselle (Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Moselle) they are the weakest, “taking into account the health regime specific to the eastern departments», Specifies the study. The territory benefits from its own local system, which pays its beneficiaries additional reimbursement, in addition to what the basic Social Security system covers. For example, in the case of a 60-year-old senior couple with enhanced guarantees, the highest rates are in Paris (285 euros per month, +6% compared to 2022). Then arrive Hauts-de-Seine (284 euros, +8%), Alpes-Maritimes (280 euros, +9%), and Val-de-Marne (278 euros, +6%) and Bouches-du -Rhône (278 euros, +7%). In the three departments of Alsace-Moselle, prices fall to less than 200 euros per month – although they are up 8 to 10% in a year.
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Load transfers to complementary
And the surge in prices is unlikely to calm down in the future. For 2024, “the first projections show strong future revaluations with indexations between 9 and 11%», Reports the study. “If this mechanism of communicating vessels between compulsory health insurance and supplementary health insurance continues, it is obvious that we will have to expect an increase in premiums», confirms Carine Milcent.
This is precisely what the government is aiming for. “Transfers of costs from health insurance to complementary health insurance are planned as part of an extension of 100% Health, notes Samuel Bansard, president of Meilleurtaux Assurances. On January 1, 2024, the remaining zero charge could in fact be extended to hair prostheses and wheelchairs, as part of this reform launched in 2021 and which currently only concerns optical, dental and health care. audiology. To this will be added from October 1 the reduction in coverage for dental care by Health Insurance, which will go from 70% to 60%, placing an additional burden of 500 million euros in a full year on mutual societies.
Beyond these public policy choices, the prices of supplementary health insurance are also being driven up by changes in French demographics. “The aging of the population leads to an increase in the proportion of the population requiring care, leading mutual insurance companies to increase the amount of premiums.», underlines Carine Milcent. To remedy this problem of out-of-pocket costs, which will become more and more significant in the future, an idea regularly comes up in public debate, that of establishing a “health shield“. It was even mentioned in a report from the High Council for the Future of Health Insurance (HCAAM), published in January 2022. “Schematically, this mechanism consists of capping the accumulation of out-of-pocket expenses: from the moment this accumulation reaches a certain level or “ceiling”, health expenses are covered 100% by Security. social», Explained the independent body. For the moment, the executive has not taken up this proposal.
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