The deadline was expected by private doctors, but it passed without providing clarification on a key point: the amount, still unknown, of the increase in consultations. On Thursday, December 21, a “plenary meeting” was organized at the Health Insurance headquarters in Paris. The second after that which, in mid-November, officially reopened conventional negotiations with the six unions representing city medicine.
This was to be an opportunity to“get into the hard part”, we expected in the union ranks. Nothing has been decided at this stage: we will have to wait until the end of January 2024 to find out if Health Insurance grants up to the 30 euros – or more – claimed for the so-called “basic” consultation, set at 25 euros since 2017, and increased to 26.50 euros on 1er November under an “arbitral settlement”, decided in the spring after the failure of a first conventional negotiation. “We still don’t know what means will be put on the table, worries Jérôme Marty, of the UFML-S. The time saved by procrastinating is time that passes without increase. »
“We want to make significant upgrades”, wanted to reassure the Director General of Health Insurance, Thomas Fatôme, by defending “bricks” to be laid gradually. The one he revealed on Thursday, a little technical, concerns the package paid to liberals when they declare themselves a patient’s attending physician: to encourage them to follow more, they would be increased by around 2,000 euros per year at total, according to three scenarios, still under study, among which it will be necessary to decide. For a total envelope of 100 million euros. While treating doctors receive, on average, 16,000 euros per year under this package (i.e. around 10% of their turnover), an additional 1,000 euros were added by the arbitration settlement, according to figures from the ‘Health Insurance.
“Overpaid per act”
These discussions, supposed to result in a contract – the “medical agreement” – setting for five years the conditions of practice and remuneration of the entire profession, are held in a particular context: in disagreement with the content of the “immigration” law, the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, signatory, on October 17, of the framework letter serving as a common thread during these negotiations, resigned from his post on Wednesday. The four axes that he had formalized in writing remain current, according to Health Insurance: increasing the attractiveness of private medicine, working on the relevance and quality of care, revaluing the place of treating doctors, working to development of different methods of remuneration (acts, packages, etc.).
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