The French will have to spend more money on healthcare.
Emmanuel Macron announced it in his full press conference last week, things are becoming clearer: medical deductibles will be doubled by “the end of March”, if the Minister of Health manages to keep her schedule. What exactly are we talking about? The excess is this amount deducted from reimbursements from the health insurance fund. Social Security costs for medicines, paramedical procedures, biology exams and medical transport are targeted. The amount of the medical excess is also capped at 50 euros per year for all the procedures or services concerned.
In a joint press release, Bercy and the Ministry of Labor, Health and Solidarity gave some details: “The government is undertaking the necessary consultations, and “the new amounts of franchises and fixed contributions should come into force at the end of March for the franchise part” and “by the beginning of June” for the rest.
The strongest measure is this: the government intends to increase the deductible from 50 cents on a box of medicine to 1 euro.
Created in 2008, this franchise has remained unchanged since. The government considers that it must be reassessed, with the aim of making significant savings. “There is no magic money. If it is not the consumer who pays, it is the taxpayer,” Emmanuel Macron told the press last Tuesday, saying he did not have “the feeling that we committed a terrible crime.”