Energy bills, food, leisure, transport… France is undergoing a period of inflation that it had not known for several years. And the health sector is also concerned. Consequently, many French people give up buying drugs that are not reimbursed because of rising prices.
According to a study carried out by Ifop (the French Institute of Public Opinion), published on April 24, six out of 10 French people claim to have already given up on the purchase of a drug without a prescription because of its price, i.e. a proportion which has almost doubled in about fifteen years. “It was while discussing with our pharmacist customers and after having conducted a study last year that we noticed this phenomenon of renunciation”, explains Jérôme Wirotius, general manager of the Biogaran laboratory, which commissioned the study.
A trend that has increased with the current inflation. And our readers are no exception. Maud, who works in a pharmacy, confirms to us that “more and more patients are no longer buying drugs that are not reimbursed. Some are even embarrassed and pretend to already have these drugs at home. This is the case of Marie who “gave up” buying the so-called “comfort” drugs […] taking into account the flight of the prices which is hallucinating”. And for Mathieu the observation is bitter: “With inflation, it’s either to eat, or to take care of yourself, or to fill up your vehicle. »
Consequences on health
For Jérôme Wirotius, this kind of choice is bad news: “Inflation in the health sector, which is due to the rise in production costs, raw materials, energy, is a new factor. And it seems difficult to explain to French people, who live in a developed country, having to pay dearly for their medicines, to the point of giving them up. »
Ange, who has been suffering from “chronic pain for years”, then admits having stopped buying medicine because “there is more urgent”. Just like Cécile: “I gave up a lot of non-prescription drugs” even if this choice predates the current rising inflation. On the other hand, she notes an even “more worrying” tendency to know how to give up “reimbursed care because the circuits are totally saturated and I don’t have that much to do with fighting to be treated…”. She thus gave up a dentist three years ago and will not take an examination if she considers that her pathologies are not serious. “If I detect an anomaly but it seems benign to me, like a lump, could I miss out on cancer out of discouragement and only end up consulting once too late?” Probably…”, she notes disillusioned.
The generic alternative
Despite everything, there are still French people who want to maintain their health purchases. For Viviane, “health [est] a priority “. She keeps [donc] to buy [ses] drugs, regardless of cost. Same desire on the side of Nicolas, who favors a qualitative approach: “I only buy the drugs I need. »
In order to lighten the weight of the rise in the price of non-reimbursed drugs, it is possible to turn to generic drugs, as Marie suggests: “Some are available on request in pharmacies”.
Or there are “reimbursable equivalents” as Maud notes. Moreover, the Ifop study confirms that “in the case of non-reimbursed drugs, [les Français] pay more attention to the price (70%) than to the brand (38%) and 88% say they are ready to favor products of equivalent quality to the major brands but at a lower price. The advice of the pharmacist remains decisive in the choices, at 83%. »