Yasmina Kattou, edited by Romain Rouillard
modified to
06:35, November 25, 2022
Thanks to one of the best social coverages in the world, French hospitals can offer their patients care at a lower cost. Nevertheless, the actual cost of treatment is very often very high and can exceed tens of thousands of euros for cancer treatment.
Treat cancer without spending a penny. A sweet dream in the United States but a reality in France thanks to exceptional social security coverage. However, most of the care provided in public hospitals is actually quite expensive and would even be inaccessible for many French people.
Let’s take the example of a family with one child, with mutual insurance like 96% of our compatriots. For an uncomplicated vaginal delivery in a public hospital, the operation will cost the mother nothing. However, the actual bill amounts to 2,862 euros for monitoring and occupying a bed for five days.
More than 10,000 euros for chemotherapy
When this child grows up and the idea comes to him to start rollerblading, his parents will not have to pay the slightest euro to treat a possible tear in the ankle ligaments. In this specific case, a passage fee of 27 euros applies to emergencies, to which must be added the radio and the scanner if necessary but also the consultation of a doctor and the fitting of a cast. In total, this sore will have cost more than 120 euros.
Another example: if the father is operated on urgently for appendicitis, the hospitalization will cost 2,500 euros but nothing at all for the patient. And if later, the mother has to treat breast cancer, the hospital will charge 10,462 euros for chemotherapy for 25 sessions. Thanks to the public hospital, this family will have received care worth nearly 16,000 euros, for which they will have paid absolutely nothing.