An interactive map published by the consumer defense association UFC-Que Choisir highlights the deplorable access to practitioners in France, whether they are general practitioners, gynecologists, ophthalmologists or pediatricians… According to the association, there are it is urgent to regulate the facilities of practitioners and to monitor their prices so that the health divide does not worsen further in the years to come.
It is a health divide of alarming magnitude, which has settled in France, warns the UFC Que Choisir. Nearly a quarter of French people (15.3 million out of 67 million) experience difficulties in having a consultation with a general practitioner. A figure much higher than those put forward by the Ministry of Health which estimated in 2018 between 3.7 million and 7.4 million the number of French people living in an area under-equipped with general practitioners.
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To conduct its study, the UFC-Que Choisir crossed two criteria: the geographical distance of the doctors (accessible within 45 minutes by road) and the prices charged (excess fees or not).
” Nearly 4 out of 10 French people have difficulty accessing an ophthalmologist, more than half of children have difficulty accessing a pediatrician, more than 4 out of 10 women have difficulty accessing a gynecologist. And if you also try to consult a specialist without paying excess fees, it’s almost an obstacle course to get an appointment. “, details Maria Roubtsova, specialist in health issues for UFC-Que Choisir.
A health divide which is indeed a financial divide since the excess fees paid by patients continue to grow, reaching 3.5 billion euros per year in 2021. “ Not only are there already two-thirds of gynecologists and ophthalmologists who practice them, but in addition the share of practitioners who exceed fees tends to increase for specialists, so if nothing is done, care will continue to be more and more inaccessible from a financial point of view”, emphasizes Maria Rubtsova.
UFC-Que Choisir in favor of coercive measures against doctors
The association has therefore developed an interactive map to illustrate its findings. ” We have also observed that it is the departments in which the doctors are the oldest that are also the least dense, that is to say that because of the dynamics of retirements, the geographical divide will be accentuated in the years to come if we do nothing “Alerts the association for the defense of consumers which questions the incentive measures, in particular financial, for the installation of doctors, carried out by the public authorities for 15 years. She recommends no longer allowing doctors to settle in over-staffed areas, except ” if the situation requires it “, without exceeding fees, to close access to the sector in free fees and to remove public aid to doctors who do not respect the Social Security tariff.
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The Social Security financing bill (PLFSS), currently under consideration, provides, along the same lines, for a fourth year of internship for young doctors with “priority” internships in underprivileged areas. endowed. Medical students, mobilized for several weeks, are hostile to it. They denounce the injustice of such measures, denounce their already disastrous working and training conditions that are detrimental to patients. Anaïs Werestchack, a young doctor from Clermont, has been alerting public opinion to the situation since mid-October via her Instagram account.