Psychological consultations reimbursed from the age of 3 from 2022

While the health crisis linked to Covid-19 has led to an increase in the frequency of mental disorders, Emmanuel Macron announced the reimbursement of psychological consultations by Health Insurance under certain conditions, during the Assizes of Mental Health and psychiatry that were held on September 28.

Consultations reimbursed and CMP positions created

“The pandemic has revealed the importance of the subject of mental health”, declared the President of the Republic, before explaining that “the whole population from the age of 3“Will be able to benefit from 2022 sessions with the psychologist paid for by Social Security, on medical prescription, up to 40 euros for the first session then 30 euros for the following ones.

The Head of State also announced the creation of 800 posts in medico-psychological centers (CMP) “from next year” in order to “minimize waiting times”, which are today, “in the territories that are most in tension, over eighteen months, during which obviously the health of the suffering people deteriorates”.

A device criticized by professionals in the sector

This reimbursement system, which was already tested in four French departments (Bouches-du-Rhône, Haute-Garonne, Landes and Morbihan), nevertheless fails to convince the professionals concerned. Interviewed by Le Figaro, Patrick-Ange Raoult, president of the National Union of Psychologists, believes that the care pathway put in place to benefit from the care of these psychiatric consultations is “too heavy” and that he “slows patient care”.

In addition, consultation rates are considered “too low”: “There is a risk of creating a two-speed consultation: short sessions with less experienced psychologists for those who do not have the means to afford freelance sessions, like the others. We are far from universal and direct access to psychology,” he explained to the media.