It is, with sick leave and dental care, the third path to savings on health expenditure identified by the government. The scenario of an increase in medical deductibles, launched as a trial balloon in mid-June, and flat-rate participation at the doctor’s, seem to be confirmed. “Arbitrations will be finalized at the end of August”, we assure the Ministry of Health. Questioned on Monday August 21 on BFM-TV, the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, acknowledged that these tracks are ” on the table “citing the need for a “collective responsibility effort”.
Speaking before the Assises des finances publics on June 19, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, had targeted the “drifts in drug spending” and judged that their “virtually free can relieve the patient of responsibility”.
The amount of deductibles, these sums not reimbursed by Social Security, in particular on boxes of medicines (50 euro cents), for a maximum envelope of 50 euros per year and per patient, has hardly changed since their introduction, in 2008. Expenditure on drugs increased by more than 4% between 2021 and 2022. And the take-off continued in the first half of 2023.
Preserve “the most fragile French people”
Faced with this increase, the government would therefore consider increasing the participation of the insured: doubling the deductible on medicines, to bring it to 1 euro, could bring in 500 to 600 million euros, according to a calculation by Bercy disclosed before summer. And the executive’s project could go further, to also concern the flat-rate contribution which applies to consultations with the doctor (1 euro), as well as x-rays and analyses, according to a hypothesis revealed by the daily THEs Echoes August 7. The government would also not exclude an extension of the franchise to medical devices (dressings, crutches, etc.) which were not affected until now.
But how to do without doubling, too, the ceiling of 50 euros per patient and per year? The equation is not easy to solve, and is already fearing a blow to the plane in the world of health.
Avenue de Ségur, it is mentioned with great caution. “We defend the maintenance of a ceiling which preserves the most fragile French people, it is argued in the entourage of the new Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau. Hes must find a system of accountability that does not penalize patients with long-term illnesses. » Some 20 million policyholders suffer from a chronic disease, of which 11 million are recognized as long-term conditions, according to figures from Medicare.