This is one of the many French paradoxes. While the French hospital is in crisis, many emergency services are understaffed and community medicine has increased strikes in 2023, the country remains the biggest spender in Europe in terms of social health protection.
With 10% of GDP dedicated to spending on health and illness according to data from the European Commission, France remained ahead of Germany in 2022, which it surpassed two years ago (9.7% in 2022). The French State even spends almost 2 points more of GDP than the average of EU countries.
In 2022, spending on social protection in health and illness, measured as a percentage of GDP, amounted to 8.1% at EU level, reflecting a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared to 2021 (8.5 %). Besides France and Germany, only two other countries are above the European average: Slovenia (8.6%) and Austria (8.5%). Behind are Belgium (7.8%), Spain (7.7%) and even Sweden (7.6%) and Denmark (6.1%).
This is public health spending. France is the country where the out-of-pocket burden of households is the lowest within the OECD, with only 8.9% of current health expenditure in the international sense (DCSi), according to the Drees, compared to 14% on average in OECD countries. EU and, for example, 12% in Germany, 13% in the United Kingdom or even 22% in Italy.
If private and public spending on health are added, France continues to occupy third place in the world with 11.9% of GDP, behind the United States (18.2%) and Germany (12.6%), but ahead of Japan (11.7%), the United Kingdom (11.3%). %) and the Netherlands (11.2%), but also two countries that have a high level of social protection such as Sweden (10.6%) and Denmark (9.5%).
More staff in French hospitals
However, the French judge their healthcare system harshly. 58% of French people consider that the French health system works poorly, of which 38% quite poorly and 20% very poorly, according to a survey by Elabe for the Montaigne Institute published in November. Accusing public authorities of not dedicating enough resources to it, the French are also mainly opposed to doubling the medical deductible, which should go from 50 cents to 1 euro on January 1. 63% of French people consider this measure unacceptable.
How can we explain this gap between the perception of the French and the resources dedicated by the country to health?
According to this public spending expert, French hospitals, for example, employ much more non-health personnel than other countries. They represent 34% of hospital staff in France, compared to 26% in Italy, 25% in Germany and 24% in Spain. Result: almost 5% of total employment in France is concentrated in hospitals (as much as the four largest private employers in the country) compared to 3.2% in Germany, 2.7% in Italy or 3% in Spain. Thus, despite very significant personnel costs, the French have the feeling of being poorly cared for.
Source: BFM TV
