April 2009 - MAAF, MMA and AGF have expanded their network of hearing-aid prosthetists forming the Santéclair platform to allow health policyholders to save 40% on hearing aids.
Launched early in 2008 in the Ile-de-France region, the Santéclair network of partner hearing aid prosthetists offers MAAF, MMA and AGF health policyholders brand-name hearing aids at extremely competitive prices together with quality services.
In keeping with their commitment to help the hearing impaired get the equipment they need in France, and on the basis of experiments conducted successfully over one year, MAAF, MMA and AGF announced today that they were extending their network of hearing-aid prosthetists to all of France.
A real public health issue
Close to six million people in France are hearing impaired and 300,000 have suffered a profound or total hearing loss. Just 17% of the country’s hearing impaired have the equipment they require, compared with 50% in Denmark and 45% in the US.
Last year in France, 436,000 hearing aids made by 2,116 prosthetists were sold, which corresponds to just under one hearing aid per day per prosthetist. Several factors explain this low equipment rate:
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the high cost of instrumentation (€2,000 to €4,000 for a binaural system)
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low rates of reimbursement by Social Security and complementary health insurers (close to 70% out-of-pocket expense factoring in SS and complementary health insurer reimbursements)
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aesthetic factors and insufficient prevention.
Successful tests in the Ile-de-France region
Tests conducted over one year with three hearing aid prosthetists and Santéclair partners were encouraging:
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policyholders who went through the Santéclair partner network of hearing aid prosthetists cut their out-of-pocket expenses in half, paying prices 40-50% below the market price for the biggest brand hearing aids,
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94% of policyholders were able to get hearing aids for both ears, compared with just 68% for those working outside the network. This result is all the more significant considering that hearing loss is treated much more efficiently when both ears are fitted with hearing aids,
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reduced prices allowed a majority of members to select higher-end models.
Extension of hearing aid prosthetist network to all of France
These results convinced MAAF, MMA and AGF to extend the network of hearing aid prosthetists to all of France, thus addressing the bulk of needs across the country. The 84 prosthetists that have become Santéclair partners offer consumers a large number of advantages:
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prices negotiated at 40-50% below average market prices for all hearing-aid brands,
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third-party payer system,
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trial period of at least one month for hearing aids,
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follow-up visit for complete hearing exam once a year,
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transparent billing: instrument price and cost of service shown separately in estimates and, for service charge, distinction made between cost of initial fitting and that of follow-up,
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two prices established by Santéclair for each type of hearing aid: one for a unilateral fitting and one for a bilateral system costing approximately 1.5x the amount of the unilateral system rather than 2x as usually seen in the profession.
This system is a tribute to MAAF, MMA and AGF’s ability to deliver innovative solutions that respond to the needs of policyholders, and to their commitment to do more for the hearing impaired.
Media contacts:
Santéclair: Frédérick MAURIN - +33 (0)1 47 61 21 36
Covéa: Marie-Pierre Michel - +33 (0)1 53 10 63 57 |
