In search of savings for its next budget, the government will be on the rise with a likely increase in medical franchises, but it is already drawing the ire of patient representatives and doctors, for whom the increase in the cost of medicines for households will not allow “recover the system”.
Health spending is in the executive’s sights. Invited by France Bleu on her return to the media on Wednesday, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne confirmed that the increase in medical franchises, which is carried out at the cost of the 50 cents paid by the insured for each box of medicines or paramedical act , was part of the pathways” for budget savings in 2024.
Since spring, the government has been preparing the mood for this probable increase. “Practically free” medicines can lead to “disempowering the patient,” Economy Minister Bruno le Maire considered in June.
In a context of inflation and purchasing power crisis, the path is politically dangerous.
Created in 2008 under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, this franchise has not changed since then: it amounts to 50 cents per box of medicines and per paramedical act (physiotherapist, nursing care, etc.), or two euros for medical transport, with a amount has a limit of 50 euros per year and per insured, beyond which everything is reimbursed.
“Renunciation of treatment”
According to the scenarios revealed this summer by Les Echos, the government wants to double the franchise, taking it to 1 euro per box or act. This increase could also affect the “flat rate contribution” that applies to the doctor, which would go from 1 to 2 euros, with another allocation also limited to 50 euros per year.
It would also consider expanding the franchise to medical devices such as bandages or crutches, which were previously exempt. Finally, a possible doubling of the maximum annual limits is being studied. The potential benefit amounts to several hundred million euros, up to 1.5 billion if the ceilings are raised.
Gérard Raymond also considers “very damaging” that Elisabeth Borne has definitively rejected the hint of an increase in taxes on alcohol, products “extremely dangerous for health”. “We are only looking at short-term economic measures,” she added.
Attacking the franchises “is totally unequal” and is equivalent to “making the most modest, the sickest pay.” If some are exempted – particularly recipients of supplementary healthcare – “all those barely above the thresholds”, already affected by inflation, risk “giving up healthcare”, he warns.
Source: BFM TV
