Hearing aids in France

[thatwastheriver]

Is it best to get a prescription from your GP or just to go to a local centre like Amplifon? Does it make any difference to the amount you get back from CPAM/mutuelle?

Hi OP, sorry for being late to reply, hope it's still useful

I've been wearing hearing aids since age 7, and I bought my first pair in France about 2 years ago.

The process (assuming that you have a carte vitale and a mutuelle)

Go to your Dr and ask for two ordonnance. One is for an ORL hearing test and the other is for the hearing aids - this will entitle you to any government subsidy.
Go to an ORL and get a proper hearing test.
Go to several different audiologists - they really do vary. I had rdv and got devis from Audika (ok, but they really push their own brand of aids), Acuitis (opticians that have branched out into audiology) - I wasn't impressed by either the knowledge of the audiologist, or the range they offered. I ended up going with Audition Conseil - great service, wide range of hearing aids on offer.
You need to get a devis from the supplier. They should all be able to tell you how much the CPAM and mutuelle will reimburse, or you can research yourself. So you will know how much you have to pay yourself.
Once you have chosen, you'll likely have to send the devis, plus the ordonnance and the ORL results to your mutuelle and get that approved. Once you receive that, you go back to the audiologist. Some audiologists will do all this for you, others wont.

The price of hearing aids in France is gobsmacking. Admittedly I've gone for good digital aids (Starkey) but the cost break down for 2 aids was roughly...

Total Cost €4000 (€2000 each ear)
CPAM reimbursement €200 per ear = €400
Mutuelle (this will vary) €500 per ear = €1000
I paid €2600. Some audiologists will let you pay in installments.

HTH

BTW are you working here ? If you are partially deaf you can apply for handicapped status. Employers like it,and if you are applying for French nationality at any point it exempts you from the language test!

Oh and the audiologist told me that the Govt might improve the SPAM reimbursement again, (It's up to 300€ per aid now) but won't know until January 2021.

SPAM = CPAM!!

So sorry everybody, I stopped checking for replies. Thank you all. I got an ordonnance from the gp but just one for the test with an ORL. Got a rdv next week. But I didn't know about asking for another for the actual aids. But the advice about the devis is spot on, learned that a while back with dental work.

We're not working but thanks for that info.

Hey

The ORL May give you the ordonnance for the hearing aids, or you may have to go back to the dr with the ORL results :-/ that’s France.

Good luck

That's France indeed! - but worth it. Thanks again for your very detailed advice. I was shocked at the probable cost, but that too will be worth it - the rdv is for my husband, it's taken me a couple of years to get him to this point.

Costco in Villebon sur Yvette do them. Won't be as cheap as the UK, but worth a try. It's only 36€ a year.

My lenses 700€ +6 +3 Costco I can get a test, plus the thinnest lightest lenses etc for £250 all in.