They feel injured by the government. Doctors, physiotherapists, dentists or even pharmaceuticals: fourteen representative organizations of liberal health professionals, gathered within the #Soignantstrahis demonstrated collective, this Tuesday, July 1, place des invalides in Paris. They protest against the freezing of their prices, they decided due to a serious risk of sliding the security expense.
On June 18, in fact, the alert committee published an opinion that anticipated a skate of 1.3 billion euros of national evil insurance expenses (ONDAM), caused by dynamic care expenses of the city, refunds of medicines and daily work arrest subsidies. As the law establishes in this difficult budgetary situation, a recovery plan for health insurance accounts has been activated … and weighs liberal health professionals that are considered “collateral damage”.
No increase in specialists prices
As a result, the revaluations of the prices of specialized doctors are frozen. After a first wave of increase in consultations in December 2024, a second had to materialize this July 1, to strengthen the attractiveness of the greatest tension, such as dermatology, pediatrics, psychiatry, gynecology or endocrinology.
These rate increases will not materialize before January 1, 2026, after the adoption of the next Social Security Financing Law (PLFSS) that should logically integrate the cost of these revaluations in ONDAM.
But the announcement of the six -month postpost of revaluations of the prices of the specialists does not have as many doctors of Supris as that. “We had said that Ondam could not absorb these revaluations, it was a risk that we had in mind signing the convention,” recalls Patrick Gasser, co -president of the future of the majority union among specialists.
If it was not associated with the demonstration launched by the other union organizations, it shares the same anger: “If we observe the causes of overcoming Ondam, it is first linked to the revaluations of the hospital staff within the framework of the Insurance, then with the explosion of the daily assignments and the prescriptions of the drugs that have increased,” he says.
“Instead of freezing prices, we might think of greater relevance in patient care: in radiology, 30% of the exams are redundant,” said this gastroenterologist installed in Nantes.
“The advertisement of the postponement was brutal and without any preliminary consultation. We immediately said that Ondam was hint: we are there!” Sophie Bauer, president of the Union of Liberal Physicians (SML) reacts, who did not join the demonstration on Tuesday. Without advances next to the Ministry of Health, several unions of liberal doctors will not hesitate to tickle him in primary insurance funds in their own way.
“We have already called our members to suspend television,” announces Franck Devulder, who forces patients to send their paper care sheets to reimburse their consultations and compensate for their illness license.
Price gel also for physiotherapists and dentists
Liberal doctors are not the only ones related to this skate of health insurance expenses. Certain acts of dentists and masseuses-fisiotherapists also had to increase this July 1.
“We had to have an increase of 1.30 for musculoskeletal acts that represent approximately 60% of our activity,” recalls Sébastien Guyrard, president of the French masseuses, the reeducators of the itals (FFMKR). This finally changes the six months and, therefore, will not apply before January 1, 2026.
But unlike doctors, these professionals did not expect this scenario: “Before this year, the alert committee had triggered a recovery plan for security accounts only once in 2007. What is more, we are not really responsible for this Ondam slide,” he sighs.
“Faced with this situation, we claim the creation of a framed price space, but we really do not have a firm government support on this issue,” said this physiotherapist installed in Perpignan. In other words, it would be a matter of authorizing these professionals to charge for excess rates that can be covered by complementary health insurance so as not to penalize the patient portfolio.
Just for pharmacists
Pharmacists are not saved by the SEPP account recovery plan either. But his case is a bit different from doctors, physiotherapists and dentists. If they did not expect revaluations of their rates on July 1, the latter could soon have a blow, the government plans to reduce the roof of discounts on the purchase of generic laboratory drugs from 40 to 20-25%.
“During the night, the government plans to reduce the budget dedicated to these discounts of 1,200 million to 600 million euros, it is completely unacceptable, this will trigger a wave of layoffs in pharmacies,” is alarmed by Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of France Pharmaceutical Unions (FSPF).
However, the trade unionist indicates that he had met with the Minister of Health on Tuesday, July 1, outside the demonstration, who would have committed to extend the initial discounts of one month, the time to consult with the representative organizations of pharmacists. “At one time, the question you have to ask is how many pharmacies in France do you want? 250 Pharmacies closed last year,” recalls Philippe Besset.
Source: BFM TV
