The last chance meeting has ended. Received Monday, November 7 at the headquarters of the Health Insurance, the representatives of the liberal biologists “hit a wall”, say their four unions, in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Engaged for more than a month in a standoff with the government, which wants to impose lower prices on them, they called for the “renewable strike” from November 14.
As part of the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS), analysis laboratories are ordered to lower the prices of their routine examinations (excluding Covid-19 screening tests). The government was already planning to save 250 million euros in savings by this measure in 2023. But it is “a new proposal for an even saltier plane that is now imposed on us”, denounce the union representatives: 280 million in 2023, then 322 million per year until 2026.
“No turning back”, according to Olivier Véran
To oppose “austerity madness”, the analysis laboratories have already stopped transmitting Covid-19 screening test data since October 28, jeopardizing the monitoring of the epidemic. They are now calling “the renewable strike of all medical biology laboratories from Monday, November 14”. And hope to be followed by the large private networks, members like them of the Alliance of medical biology (Biogroup, Cerba, Eurofins, Inovie, Synlab).
Government spokesman Olivier Véran said on Sunday that there would be no “no turning back” on the Social Security budget and that there was no “no need to revise this position”.