It will soon be more expensive to go to your doctor. Two months after the failure of their negotiation with Health Insurance, the six representative unions of liberal doctors learned this Monday morning of the arbitration established by the senior official designated for this task, the former inspector of social affairs Annick Morel.
All medical consultations will increase by 1.50 euro in six months at the earliest, probably in the fall. Thus, the visit to a general practitioner will increase to 26.50 euros and that to a specialist, to 31.50 euros. The part not reimbursed by Health Insurance for the basic consultation remains at 30%, that is to say that it will go from 7.50 euros to nearly 8 euros, three of the main unions tell us. “The ratio does not move”, we confirm at the Ministry of Health.
This famous “ticket moderator” can be supported by the mutual. If not, that’s up to you. What keeps some of the most precarious patients away from care? “I don’t think that these additional 50 euro cents will be blocking, even if we are aware of the difficult context”, estimates Luc Duquesnel, president of the generalist branch of the Confederation of French medical unions, recalling that “financial aid exists “. Complementary health care, in particular, reimburses what is not covered by health insurance.
A minimum of 30 euros
These sums of 26.50 and 31.50 euros were, precisely, those proposed by Health Insurance at the end of February… but refused en bloc by these same unions, despite an envelope of 1.5 billion euros per year for, at term, revaluate the consultations. “It makes no sense when you see the inflation,” thunders Jérôme Marty, head of the UFMLS.
The representatives of the doctors demanded a minimum of 30 euros per consultation with the general practitioner (even 50 euros for certain collectives). They had strongly opposed the “territorial commitment contract” (CET) opening this second price level of 30 euros to practitioners accepting certain counterparties: taking on more patients, doing night shifts, practicing in a medical desert, working Saturday morning…
Finally, this CET was not retained in the arbitration. The lack of agreement also brought down other new measures in favor of medical assistants and “unscheduled care” (without an appointment). The “initial registration consultation” for a person with a long-term illness (ALD) but who does not have an attending physician will be paid up to 60 euros. Around 700,000 patients are potentially affected, and this issue is one of the government’s stated priorities.
New negotiations quickly?
The Minister of Health announced, in the process, that he was going to approve this arbitration. This “includes decisive objects to improve the response to the health needs of the French”, he justified in a press release. The doctors’ unions, which have no say, are planning on their side towards a resumption of negotiations in order to reach a new agreement as soon as possible. “An arbitration settlement is always worse than a negotiated settlement,” agreed Annick Morel on Monday morning.
Health Insurance says it is “convinced that this dialogue will bear fruit, and will thus make it possible to carry the ambitions of the Government, and of all health professionals, in terms of access to care for the insured and the attractiveness of medicine. liberal”.
“If we could resume negotiations in June, that would be good,” slips Jérôme Marty, who raises the threat of disagreements. 1,500 doctors would already be ready to cross the Rubicon, and get out of the planned fee schedule. “All we are asking is to have real negotiations and to manage to retain these people in the convention”, concludes the boss of the UFMLS.