A double penalty for patients and 600 million euros in the State coffers. As BFMTV learned this Tuesday, the medical franchise, that is, what is left for the patient when they buy a box of reimbursed medications, will go from 50 cents to 1 euro as of next January 1. An increase carried out as part of the government’s Social Security Funding Bill.
On the other hand, and this should not change, this franchise will continue to have a limit of 50 euros per year per person. As was already the case, minors, pregnant women and patients who are beneficiaries of the CSS (Solidarity Complementary Health Society) and the AME (State Medical Aid) will be exempt from this franchise.
Social regression and double punishment
This increase, requested for several weeks by the government, is well received by patient and user representatives. For Gérard Raymond, president of France Assos Santé, the main federation of patient associations, the message is unmistakable: “Frankly, franchises are prohibited!”
“It is a double punishment for us: being sick and having to pay to get the medicine,” he says.
Thanks to this measure, Bercy hopes to obtain 600 million euros annually, far from the 7 billion deficit in health insurance. Furthermore, as Frédéric Bizard, economics professor at ESCP and president of the Health Institute, points out to BFMTV, this necessarily unpopular increase is a real political risk for the government.
“It is a measure that puts the effort into the middle class and the sick of this middle class. It is socially regressive and is not free of political risks,” he stated.
In a press release on September 12, the French Diabetic Federation already announced that it was opposed to this increase “which would hit the most vulnerable people hard.”
At the beginning of September, before the microphone of BFMTV, the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, considered that doubling the franchise was a “principle of responsibility”, but in no case “a tax or a tax.”
“Others for whom it will be a real problem”
Questioned by BFMTV, the French declared themselves divided by this measure. “We are not all at the same level, and I think there are people who can afford it and others for whom it will be a real problem,” said one of them.
“I think it’s good management regarding abuse and people overusing medications when they don’t necessarily need them,” adds a second.
Since the generalization of third-party payment in 2016, the deductible is rarely paid directly by patients, but is usually deducted from subsequent healthcare reimbursements by Health Insurance.
Source: BFM TV
