Sunday March 31, the decree on doubling the medical franchise comes into force. The amount that remains payable by the patient on the boxes of medicine therefore goes from 50 cents to €1.
To compensate for the deterioration of Social Security accounts, the Government voted, in January, the decree which doubles the amount payable by the patient on medicines, and also medical transport, after deduction of the cost of Security. social. Published in the Official Journal, this decree now sets the amount at €1 for the purchase of a box of medicine, compared to 50 cents before Sunday March 31. The excess on medical transport increases from €2 to €4.
Already, the “flat rate contribution” on consultations, medical procedures (with the exception of those carried out during hospitalization) and on medical biology examinations and analyzes has doubled to €2.
Risk of worsening “forgoing care”
Minors, pregnant women and beneficiaries of complementary solidarity health insurance or state medical aid (AME) are exempt, specifies West France. And for those who have to pay it, there is a ceiling of €50 per year per person in order to “protect those affected by a serious pathology, and in particular people with a long-term condition”.
These measures should enable savings of 800 million euros for Social Security funds, according to Government estimates. But they are strongly criticized by patients and doctors. “Making people who are sick pay double, that’s not how we make people responsible. We make them feel guilty,” defended Gérard Raymond, president of France Assos Santé, relays the regional daily newspaper. The majority union of general practitioners, MG France, also denounces an “unequal project” which could worsen “the renunciation of care”.