The return of the “rabbit tax”: to hold accountable patients who cancel their medical appointments, the Senate voted this Friday in favor of establishing a tax to be paid by these “phony rabbits”, against the opinion of the Government.
The Upper House, which has adopted this measure for several years without seeing it succeed, has not changed its habits during the examination of the Social Security budget project. By 214 votes against 127, it was positioned to charge the insured “a lump sum defined by decree” when he does not keep his appointment with the doctor.
The left and the government opposed it, raising in particular implementation difficulties. In fact, it places the burden on Health Insurance to detect these abuses, but its agents “are not in doctors’ offices,” warned Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq, fearing “a risk that patients will be arbitrarily penalized.”
“Stubbornness”
The socialist Bernard Jomier denounced the “obstinacy” of the center-right alliance, the majority in the Senate, regarding this measure that “will completely fail to meet its objectives by affecting those who have social security.” The vote on the system, which could be eliminated later during a mixed commission between deputies and senators on the Social Security budget, however relaunches the debate on the responsibility of patients.
In fact, former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal launched this project by announcing the creation of such a tax from 2025 for doctors. But the file was suspended due to the dissolution that occurred in spring. Within the framework of the Social Security budget, the senators also wanted to reinforce the security of the Vitale card, whose “secure” character would now be enshrined by law, in a context of increasing dematerialization.
They also decided to accelerate the generalization of the “Carte Vitale” mobile application, bringing it forward from the end of 2025 to July 1. While adding an economic incentive for professionals to update their software to dematerialize this use.
Source: BFM TV
