The Minister of the Budget, Gabriel Attal, judged Thursday “unacceptable” the decision of the biologists to no longer supply the national file of Covid screening tests (SI-DEP) because of the plane provided for in the Social Security budget. Opposed to the “blind planer” of the Social Security budget, which wants to impose 250 million euros in savings on them, biologists announced on Wednesday that they will stop feeding this file from Thursday.
“No possible follow-up of the epidemic”
If patients will continue to receive their results, “there will be no more possible follow-up of the epidemic”, declared to AFP the president of the Alliance for medical biology, Alain Le Meur. Laboratories will no longer be reimbursed by health insurance – a shortfall estimated at 14 million euros per week. This decision “is unacceptable”, reacted Thursday on France info Gabriel Attal.
“We are lucky to have very committed medical biologists in our country and we were lucky to have them during the Covid crisis, they helped us resist by carrying out a lot of tests, these tests allowed them to increase their turnover of 7 billion euros”, he recalled.
Attal assumes requires an effort from biologists
“7 billion euros in additional turnover thanks to the Covid tests paid for by Social Security during the Covid crisis, in a sector which is already very profitable which has margins which have increased, I believe, from 18% to 26% “, he insisted. He “assumes” thus of their “request an effort in the Social Security budget of 250 million euros in 2023”. “Everyone is making efforts (…) in sectors which have had a certain number of benefits in recent years (…) at some point there must obviously be a contribution made,” said said the minister again.
Biologists have for their part proposed to limit the puncture to the year 2023 alone, under the profits of the Covid. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne again engaged the Assembly on Wednesday evening in the responsibility of her government via 49.3, on the entire 2023 Social Security draft budget.