Monaco has an excellent healthcare system, one of the best in Europe, and as an expat here you should have no trouble in accessing either dental or eye care.If you are registered with Monaco’s national health service scheme, the Caisses Sociales de Monaco or CSM, you may be covered for some basic dental treatment. Otherwise, you will need to take out private health cover. The national health here will cover some basic eye care, too.
How to register with a dentist
In order to find your nearest dentist in Monaco, you can either check the local phone directory or use Google, which has an extensive listing of dental practitioners. Make sure, if you are covered by the CSM, that your dentist is also signed up to the scheme, otherwise you may have to pay out-of-pocket.
To what extent does national insurance cover dentistry?
The CSM will cover basic and routine dental care, and any emergency dental treatment that you need to seek. Thus fillings should be covered under the scheme, for example. However, the CSM does not cover anything more sophisticated, such as crowns or implants. For these, you will need to take out private health insurance.
The CSM says that full cover for dental treatment with exemption from co-payments is, in principle, limited to orthodontics treatments started before the age of 16. However, it goes on to note that the tariffs for these treatments are unregulated and their actual cost is often greater than the level of reimbursement, so it is recommended that you obtain a written quote from the practitioner before beginning any treatment and consult the CSM.
Note that you will also need prior agreement with the CSM for some forms of dental treatment:
• any preparation or use of prosthetics or orthodontics
• any special treatment
For the purposes of reimbursement, the CSM uses the following codes (treatment is also colour-coded, and the colour category into which you fall should be shown on your CSM registration card):
• C consultation with the dentist
• CS consultation with a specialist (orthodontist)
• D procedure by a dental surgeon
• DIMP dental prosthesis by implant procedure by a dental surgeon
• K, KC procedure by an oral medicine specialist
• Z dental radiography
Basic dental cover includes:
• fillings
• extractions
• descaling
• minor gum surgery (procedures marked D for dental surgeons or K for oral medicine specialists), which may be accompanied by radiological examinations (procedures marked Z)
• pharmaceutical prescriptions
A basic consultation with your dentist will cost in the region of €23.10 – €27.72, depending on your category. The rate of reimbursement will be around €18.48 – 23.10.
In general, you will be asked to make an overall co-payment of 20%, with the CSM covering the remainder. Regardless of the practitioner’s fees and the technique used, the reimbursement rate will be the same for all colour categories.
Accessing private dental treatment
If you are not registered with the CSM, or you require more advanced dental treatment such as crowns, you may choose to pay out-of-pocket or seek private dental cover. Monaco has a range of private dentists and you should have no difficulties in finding a practitioner. Dental costs will depend on the individual practice, and also on whether your private policy covers dental treatment. Costs in the private sector can range from:
• €90 for a consultation
• €96 for cleaning
• €800 for root canal
• €1214 for veneers
• €1200 for crowns
• €296 for extraction
• €143 for periodontal maintenance
Private dental practices may also offer installment plans or dental plans: one dentist in Monaco offers an annual plan for a single person of €104 or family cover for €208, which includes no-cost examinations and X-rays.
You may also wish to consider taking out top-up cover with a mutuelle insurer: reimbursement costs quoted are in the region of €1,300 for orthodontics, for example.
How to register with an optometrist in Monaco
Monaco has a number of optometrists, both private or public, and you will be able to locate these via the phone directory or online. Since the CSM does cover some optical care, remember to check whether your selected optometrist is registered with the national health insurance scheme.
To what extent does national insurance cover optical care?
The CSM covers basic optical care. It has agreed a standard tariff with various opticians in the principality and neighboring municipalities with a view to improving reimbursement rates for prescription glasses.
Contracted opticians must:
• apply a standard tariff to standard quality lenses on sale to the public
• provide beneficiaries with at least two standard shaped frames at a maximum price of €50
• produce a quote showing the contractual sales price and the amount of reimbursable and non-reimbursable supplements, as well as the reimbursement rate for each pair of spectacles
Lenses supplied by a non-contracted optician are reimbursed on the basis of five times the rate used by the French tariff, applicable after the age of eighteen.
Contact lenses may also be reimbursed by the CSM under certain circumstances, but this depends on the advice of your optometrist.
Accessing private optical care
More advanced optical care is available in the private sector, such as laser treatment as a correction for short sight and other forms of refractive eye surgery. You will also need to pay out-of-pocket for designer frames for your glasses, for example, as your choice will be limited under the national scheme.
You can also take out top-up insurance cover with a mutuelle. Costs quoted for reimbursement under these kinds of policies are: €500 for glasses and €250 for lenses.
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