Significant increases expected for mutual insurance companies and supplemental health insurance plans

Health is priceless, but it does come at a cost. And that cost is set to jump by 8.1% for supplemental health insurance policies in 2024, according to the latest survey by the Mutualité Française.
 

For the record, in 2023 the increase was only 4.7 percent, and 3.4 percent in 2022. So how can this spike be explained? “Healthcare spending has been rising faster than economic output” for years, points out Eric Chenut, president of the Mutualité Française, right from the start.
 

This finding emerged from a survey of 38 mutual insurance companies, which provide coverage to a total of 18.7 million people. Mutual insurance companies are the largest segment of the supplemental health insurance market, accounting for 46% of benefits paid, ahead of commercial insurers (nearly 35% of the market) and employee benefit plans (just under 20%).
 

On average, mutual health insurance plans are projecting an average increase of 8.1% in their premiums for 2024. The increase will average 7.3% for individual policies and 9.9% for mandatory group policies—those purchased by companies for their employees.
The first explanation is that “healthcare spending grew extremely rapidly in 2023, rising by 6 percent when a 3 or 4 percent increase had been expected,” explains Eric Chenut.
 

This cost overrun is driven by wage and fee increases for healthcare workers, higher healthcare utilization, and a reduction in dental care reimbursements by Social Security.
 

With the “100% Health” reform, the government transferred 500 million euros in additional annual dental expenses to supplemental health insurance providers, reducing the reimbursement rate for these expenses by the National Health Insurance from 70% to 60%. This has increased the role of supplemental health insurance plans in covering optical, dental, and audiology expenses, since it is the mutual insurance companies that absorb the cost of the reduced reimbursement.
In total, spending by supplemental health insurance plans is therefore expected to increase by 1.5 billion euros in 2024, out of a total budget of approximately 30 billion euros.
 

How can we lower the bill? According to the president of the Mutualité, one way to try to avoid excessive increases in premiums might be to revise the standard coverage package, the “responsible and solidarity-based contract.” This contract “includes a very high level of coverage, and consequently also very high costs,” he says. It might be helpful to “make it more flexible” to “allow people to get the level of coverage they need.”
 

While the government may want to take a firm stance to rein in the private health insurance companies, in practical terms, it cannot regulate the rates for supplemental health insurance. For now, the minister is simply calling on consumers and businesses to take advantage of competition.