Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
remboursées par la mutuelle
English translation:
Reimbursed by your medical insurance
French term
Türkiye
prompt reply+ certified
Native in: Turkish (Variant: Standard-İstanbul )
Works in: Turkish to English, English to Turkish, French to Turkish
remboursées par la mutuelle
I was doing an brochure translation about medical services. The following is noted in the text
"Nous sommes conventionnées, vos consultations sont remboursées par la mutuelle."
It did not make much sense when I directly translate it to English. I thought there may some french specific meaning in it.
Thanks in advance.
Seyit
| 5 +3 | Reimbursed by your medical insurance |
Helene Tammik
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| 4 +1 | refunded by complementary health insurance |
katsy
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| 5 | refunded (OR reimbursed) by your complementary health insurance |
Marie-Elizabeth Bell
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Apr 2, 2017 16:53: Tony M changed "Field" from "Other" to "Medical" , "Field (write-in)" from "(none)" to "Health insurance in France"
Non-PRO (2): Tony M, Michele Fauble
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Proposed translations
Une belle plume - en anglais
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Swedish to English
Reimbursed by your medical insurance
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Note added at 3 mins (2017-04-02 16:42:46 GMT)
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Meaning, when you go and see a medical practitioner (this is called 'a consultation') then you pay for that, and the cost will be reimbursed to you by your medical insurer.
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Note added at 5 mins (2017-04-02 16:44:18 GMT)
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And if the practitioner is "conventionné" then that means they are accredited by the Government so that people who "consult" them are allowed to get their money reimbursed.
Some medical practitioners (eg osteopaths) are not "conventionnés".
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Note added at 1 hr (2017-04-02 18:14:38 GMT)
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Absolutely agree with Tony M's point, so 'reimbursed by your top-up medical insurance' would be crystal clear.
Re Katsy's point, yes, 70% is normally reimbursed by the Sécurité Sociale, but the question specifically relates to the 'mutuelle' part of it.
| agree |
Tony M
: It helps so much when you are familiar with the culture in the country, doesn't it? If context makes it necessary to explain, then 'top-up medical insurance' might be sufficient.
12 mins
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Absolutely! That sentence would have been impenetrable to me too before spending time in France!
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| agree |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: Reimbursed by yourown private mutual health insurance
("Refund" is € paid back for something that was not up to scratch. "Private and mutual" seems more accurate than "complementary, that is used, but is really a calque on the FR).
44 mins
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| neutral |
katsy
: I feel it's absolutely necessary to say that the 'mutuelle' is a complementary insurance. CF. your example of going to the doctor; your national health insurance refunds most of it; your mutuelle may refund all or part of the rest.
53 mins
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| agree |
Michele Fauble
2 hrs
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refunded by complementary health insurance
To repeat: when you see a doctor, your visit is refunded by the national health insurance (la sécurité sociale) for 70%; the rest - or part of it- is refunded by your 'mutuelle', your complementary insurance. Most people do have a 'mutuelle', but not everyone.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2017-04-02 18:47:53 GMT)
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Given the remarks below, I will point out one or two examples of "complementary health insurance" - though I'm prepared to look at alternatives
http://dictionnaire.reverso.net/anglais-francais/complementa...
https://www.britline.com/insurance-complementary-health-insu...
Secondly the translation requested is of 'mutuelle', not of 'remboursement de la Sécurité sociale', so it seems to me - I repeat myself!- essential to indicate what a mutuelle is... it is not just normal reimbursements - which I have the same problem with as Tony does with refund :-)
I have looked at one or two expat sites, and find 'top up' insurance
and
'additional private health insurance' here/ http://www.expatica.com/fr/healthcare/French-doctors-Find-a-...
| neutral |
Tony M
: I am never entirely happy with the use of 'refunded' in this context; and while i agree with your point, for Asker's needs here, a fuller explanation may well not be necessary or desirable; 'complementary' is not much clearer (calque of 'complémentaire')
11 mins
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Ok for refunded. My problem was that the other answer did not seem to me to translate 'mutuelle'. We can no doubt find alternatives to
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| agree |
C. MASKA
19 hrs
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Thanks Corinne 😊
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France
Interpreter and Translator
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, French to English
refunded (OR reimbursed) by your complementary health insurance
Hope this helps
Marie-Elizabeth
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Note added at 22 hrs (2017-04-03 14:58:45 GMT)
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For information, see pages 2, 4, 9 http://stats.oecd.org/fileview2.aspx?IDFile=e11b92da-6cc5-4c...
| neutral |
katsy
: Hi there, I'm glad to see some confirmation, but not sure that this is different from what I proposed! /OK, thanks, but you could have simply put an 'agree' on my suggestion. No worries though, I appreciate the fact someone agrees . I too am positive!
10 mins
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Yes of course! It's a confirmation, not a different explanation.
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| neutral |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: Your explanation is correct, of course. The term is "reimbursed" as "to refund" is when one recovers one's money for a defective product, for example. The term "complementary" is a calque on FR and inaccurate for GB: "rpivate" and "mutual" can be used.
4 hrs
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Discussion
I would just like to add to one of your points, though: although 'mutual societies' do indeed exist in the UK (I don't know about the USA), they do NOT fulfil the same function as the 'mutuelles' in France, and as the latter term is in any case only an informal colloquialism, I think any mention of 'mutual' is best swept well under the carpet.
As you say, I don't believe 'complementary' is either readily understandable or to be recommended; let's not forget that the udnerlying meaning of it in FR is in any case very often simply 'additional', rather than actually 'complementing' anything; as such, 'top-up' actually comes quite close, really.
One point to get clear first though, the difference between "to reimburse" and "to refund". In English, one is refunded when a product is defective and you return it in order to get your money back. A "reimbursement" describes payment of sums you have already spent and in repsect of which the cost can be borne by someone else. Note that "reimbursement" can also be used where "refund" is used, but not the other way round.
Next, the term "complémentaire". Yes, it is not unusual to find original EN language sources using the term "complementary" to describe this type of insurance in France. However, you will be hard pushed to find this used in an EN/EN context. The systems are dfifferent, the explanations in the suggestions are correct. The choice of term "complementary" however is incorrect. You will not find health insurance companies using this term in this context. What you will find are expressions using the terms "private" and/or "mutual" (as mutual funds exist across a range of insurance contexts in the UK).
The systems differ, but a calque on FR is not the best way.
I am a freelance translator here in France, and I have both 'obligatory' health cover and also a 'complémentaire'.
My argument against using 'complementary' is just that it is a direct calque of the FR term and not a term we would normally use in EN — also, sad to say, many people confuse it with 'complimentary', which would lead to an incorrect interpretation.
I personally think 'health / medical insurance' alone is suffficient, since Asker's wider context probably doesn't need any more explanation than that; otherwise, as i've said below, I think 'top-up' is a more understandable explanation for an EN reader. Given that the complexities of the FR 2-stage health funding system probably don't need to be explained in detail, this ought to be enough to give the general idea.