What a check-up costs in Monaco

The one published price, and how old it is

No provider in Monaco publishes a current price for a check-up. The most recent published figure is from Hello Monaco on 8 May 2019, which reported an average bill of about €4,000 for a full day at the Check-up Unit of the Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace [1]. That figure is seven years old and was an average across patients, so read it as a guide to the order of cost.

The unit now prices each check-up on request. Its formalities page asks you to get in touch for a personal study of your needs and an estimate of fees, and its check-up page describes an all inclusive price with the fees estimated before you commit [2] [3].

What sets the price of a hospital check-up

The tests chosen for you set the price. After a medical questionnaire or a first consultation, the unit sends an estimate based on the tests and consultations recommended for you, and organises the day once you agree to it [4]. A cardiovascular check-up with a cardiac CT and a stress test has a different list from one built on blood tests and an ultrasound, so ask for the list of tests with the estimate. The unit lists five specialised check-ups, cardiovascular, digestive, gynaecological, junior and senior, and the digestive one adds a pre-anaesthesia consultation and a colonoscopy under anaesthesia to the gastroenterologist’s consultation [5].

Part of the price is the setting. The unit occupies the top two floors of a building at the hospital, with private suites over the sea and meals prepared by a chef [6]. Nurses take you from test to test, and a doctor goes through your results and the report with you before you leave [4].

Before you accept an estimate, ask for it to show these four things.

• Every test and consultation, by name.
• Which scans are included, and who reports them.
• Whether the suite, the meals and the written report are in the price.
• What a further test would cost if one is needed.

Who pays for a check-up in Monaco

A check-up is preventive, so the Caisses Sociales de Monaco do not reimburse it. Private insurance may cover it, depending on the terms of your contract [2]. Look in your policy for the words preventive, screening or check-up before you ask for an estimate, and ask your insurer in writing if the wording is unclear.

Organised screening is the exception to paying yourself. If you are insured in Monaco and aged 50 to 80, the government invites you to take a bowel cancer screening test at home every two years, and you can collect the kit at no cost from the Monaco Screening Centre or your own doctor [7].

What single consultations cost

If you would rather build a check-up step by step with your own doctor, the agreed fees are published. A doctor contracted with the Caisses Sociales de Monaco bills from €35 for a GP consultation, about €45 for a specialist consultation and about €115 for a cardiologist’s special consultation [8]. Blood tests and scans are charged separately. The same table sets higher fees for holders of some insurance cards, and shows the Caisses reimbursing 80% or 100% of the agreed fee depending on your cover [8].

This route takes several appointments over a few weeks, and the results reach your doctor one at a time. The hospital route puts every test and the review of your results into a single day [4].

What the money buys, and what the evidence says

A broad check for everyone does little on its own. A Cochrane review of 17 trials, 15 of which reported outcomes for 251,891 people, found that general health checks made little or no difference to deaths from any cause, from cancer or from heart disease [9].

Tests aimed at a known risk do better. In 6,722 adults with no heart symptoms, a coronary calcium score above 300 carried almost ten times the risk of a coronary event of a score of zero [10]. In 11,092 adults, an HbA1c between 6.0% and 6.5% carried more than four times the later risk of diabetes of a level between 5.0% and 5.5% [11]. Ask whether your estimate includes the tests that fit your own risks, and which tests you could leave out.

Appointments in Monaco

Our executive health assessment in Monaco costs from €4,400. Anyone can request an appointment in Monaco now.