If you are about to start your transition to retirement, another turning point must also be initiated: that of the choice of your complementary health insurance. To choose your mutual insurance company well once it is time for retirement, several points must be observed. Starting with the fact of determining whether or not it is in your interest to keep your company health insurance individually.

In fact, from the age of 60/65, when you retire, you have two options. You have either the possibility of keeping the complementary health insurance from the company for which you worked (provided, however, that you request it 6 months before your departure), or to see if another contract would not be more suited to your needs and more advantageous from a financial point of view.

In the first case, it is up to you to pay the full payment to your health insurance on your own (your former employer no longer being required to partially finance the cost) and you often keep your guarantees without any increase at the start. But as the years go by, your mutual will gradually increase the amount of your payments according to your age. Hence the interest of considering the second scenario. Namely that of changing complementary health insurance to subscribe to a senior mutual that better meets your needs while limiting subscription costs.

If you were working as a self-employed person, you can also keep your old mutual once you retire. The problem is that you no longer have the possibility of deducting the contributions you paid from your taxable professional income. The bill can therefore increase in this respect. Hence, there again, the interest of checking whether other contracts do not prove to be more interesting.

Industry experts agree on the need to anticipate. Indeed, there is no need to wait until the day of your retirement to take out senior mutual insurance in line with your needs. Also, taking stock of your wishes by selecting a contract that only offers you the guarantees you need is an essential step. A step that it is recommended to carry out as soon as possible, in particular because the levels of contribution increase the older you get. Do not hesitate, moreover, to question the various organizations as to how they change the premiums according to age. The objective is to determine what you will be required to pay in the years and decades to come.

As a retiree, several guarantees must be carefully observed. These mainly concern optical costs, dental costs, hearing costs or even hospitalization costs. But other guarantees can be considered. This is the case, for example, of costs related to prescribed spa treatments or household help. Guarantees which therefore depend on your needs, your personal situation but also on the costs covered or not by Social Security.

Since January 1, 2020, the government has put in place a system called “zero charge remainder”. Thanks to rates negotiated with both health insurance and complementary health insurance, care coverage such as the choice of frames, special lenses for your glasses or even dental crowns is 100% guaranteed. And this, whether you have opted for an expensive or economical contract. The care in question has been defined by the executive to integrate so-called “100% health” baskets.

In fact, if the “100% health basket” deployed by the government meets your healthcare requirements, it no longer constitutes a criterion for you to choose your senior mutual insurance company. Also, it may prove useful at that time to focus more on everything relating to the coverage of excess fees (the reimbursements offered by mutual insurance companies being capped in order not to encourage this), medicines not reimbursed by health insurance, or even hospitalization costs or costs related to alternative medicine services.

Also pay attention to the health questionnaires that some mutuals have you fill out before you subscribe to offer you personalized contracts and services. In reality, it can also be a way to determine your disease risk rate in order to anticipate and mark up the price of your monthly contribution. Detailing your pathologies to a potential insurer can therefore expose you to possible unexpected costs with extremely increased prices.

Finally, note that if you want to limit the subscription costs for your senior health insurance, it may be wise to be insured as a couple (if this is your case). Many companies do not hesitate, in fact, to make a commercial gesture to allow you to save up to 20% on the second contract if you choose to take out insurance together. A point not to be omitted if you receive a small pension. While knowing that since November 1, 2019, there has been a system aimed at helping the smallest pensioners to take out complementary health insurance. This is the Complementary health solidarity (CSS or C2S) which allows people over 60 to have nothing to pay for many expenses at the doctor’s, hospital or for their medication.

Our Planet advisors help you choose the mutual best suited to your needs