In a context of tense relations between doctors and Social Security, some practitioners would like to disagree. What does this change for patients? Explanations.
Some of the doctors are angry. Some would indeed like the price of the consultation, at 25 €, to be doubled to 50 €. Last April, Social Security agreed to increase rates by €1.50. Thus, consultations will cost €26.50 with GPs and €31.50 with specialists. The change should be made no earlier than the end of October 2023, according to AFP. In a tweet published this Tuesday, May 16, Doctor Jérôme Marty, president of the French Union for Free Medicine (UFML), protests. According to him, 1,956 doctors would have sent a letter of deconvention, in order to freely set their own prices. A decision not without consequences on the patient’s portfolio.
As explained by our colleagues from The Dispatchwhen a doctor is approved for sectors 1 and 2, patients are reimbursed up to 70% of the basic rate by Social Security, the remaining 30% by mutual insurance. A complementary health insurance fund may reimburse excess fees for sector 2 contracted professionals. However, if the doctor is not approved – and therefore in sector 3 -, patients are only reimbursed up to €0.61 for general medicine and €1.22 for specialists. Thus, only 61 cents will be reimbursed for a consultation costing 50 €.
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A few hundred doctors are not under agreement
A complementary health insurance can possibly help to reimburse the rest, if the guarantees of the contract allow it. For the patients concerned, a difficult choice is ahead: either agree to pay more for the consultation, or change doctors. According to data from Health Insurance for 2021, relayed by The Parisian, only 572 general practitioners are not contracted ; on the contrary, 111,381 general practitioners are contracted.