LThe Departmental Council of Gironde and the Mutami mutual signed an agreement this Wednesday, January 15, for the creation of a solidarity and local mutual. Objective: to provide complementary health care to populations who are far from it, mainly young people aged 25 to 40 and those over 70.
According to the Gironde Primary Health Insurance Fund, which supported the Department in this project, 11% of members did not have access to complementary health insurance in 2022. 20-39 year olds because they do not see any not the necessity or because of the cost, seniors because of increasing prices depending on age.
Target the excluded
According to the Departmental Council, between 11 and 14% of Girondins are not covered by complementary health insurance, or 178,000 to 227,000 people. Since 2022, the community has been working to identify people who give up access to their health rights. The agreement aims to encourage some of them to turn to Mutami, as part of the access to rights plan voted the same year. In other departments where a public authority joins forces with a mutual insurance company to offer this type of service, around one in two people decide to subscribe to complementary health insurance.
This local and supportive mutual does not impose any health questionnaire or eligibility criteria.
Within the framework of this agreement, the Department is neither insurer nor subscriber to the contract, it is limited to facilitating the connection of potential rights holders with Mutami. Based in Toulouse, this mutual in the field of the social and solidarity economy (ESS) was born from the merger of several local mutuals claiming to be part of the social movement, from Montpellier to Brest. Today it has 65,000 registered members. It was chosen for this operation via a call for partnership launched in spring 2024. Among the advantages it claims compared to the competition, “rates 20 to 30% cheaper, and which do not increase after 70 years” , according to commercial director Olivier Bedmar.
Variable rates
Prices vary depending on the type of insured (child, under 30 years old, 40 to 59 years old, etc.) and guarantee. The lowest starts at 20.40 euros per month, the most expensive is 141.30 euros per month. This local and solidarity mutual does not impose any health questionnaire or eligibility criteria, you just need to reside in Gironde.
“The Department has a legal role in health prevention and prevention, so we are within our scope of intervention,” explains Jean-Luc Gleyze, president of the Departmental Council. After disability in 2024, the community has chosen to make the ESS its great cause for 2025. “The ESS is a concrete alternative to ultra-liberalism, with projects that advocate the general interest, social bonds, local and non-relocatable jobs,” specifies the vice-president of the Department, Sophie Piquemal.
The partnership with Mutami is signed for three years, renewable. Several public meetings are planned in Gironde to publicize the system.
