Up to 30 km detour to reach or return from your dialysis or chemotherapy session. It depends France Infowho was able to consult the draft future decree regulating the “sharing” of medical transport, which awaits patients who go to the hospital by ambulance or taxi.
In its current form, the decree provides for a detour of 10 kilometers possible per passenger transported, within the limit of a total detour of 30 km per journey.
A decision which leaves patient associations skeptical, to say the least. The president of Renaloo, the association of kidney patients, interviewed by France Info, would for example prefer that the decree take into account the possible detour in time and not in distance, particularly in tourist sectors which are overcrowded in summer.
Individual transport possible on prescription
Only a doctor’s prescription, specifying that the patient’s condition is incompatible with a shared journey, will allow individual transport to be obtained. Without this sesame, the patient will still be able to refuse carpooling but will have to pay a penalty from 2025 and, for this year, advance the costs. In the case of serious pathologies, they can amount to several thousand euros.
Shared medical transport was established by a vote of Parliament in the fall of 2023 to allow Social Security to save money. It sparked an outcry from ambulance drivers and taxi drivers.