2023-05-12 18:29:52
The cost of compensation for work stoppages is of concern to the government. The latter intends to look into it to try to reduce public spending.
Bercy hopes to collect 7 billion euros by seeking savings in state spending, the ministries having to inform 5% of potential cuts in their respective budgets. But the social sphere will also be affected. “The daily allowances of the Health Insurance are also part of the tracks”, indicated the Minister of the Budget, Gabriel Attal, to the “World”.
“There are several possible avenues for overhauling the rules and the financing of these stops”, is content to add the minister’s office. The government could say more in the days to come. He must present measures against social fraud and will hold a public finance meeting in mid-June.
Nearly 2 billion in compensation linked to the crisis
Daily allowances (IJ) have increased with the Covid crisis, the executive having gone so far as to automatically issue work stoppages to people declaring themselves symptomatic or in contact. In 2022, these IJ linked to the health crisis amounted to 1.8 billion euros, notes the alert committee on the evolution of Health Insurance expenditure in an opinion published in April.
Putting aside the shutdowns linked to the Covid, they cost 15 billion euros. Above all, their dynamic challenges the experts. Increasing by 7.9% between 2021 and 2022, these IJ excluding the Covid crisis constitute the “most dynamic” expenditure item, in the field of city care, notes the alert committee.
Effects of inflation
The bill for work stoppages is notably increased by inflation and the dynamics of wage increases. The committee thus notes that “a still high increase in volume is added to the effects of increases in the minimum wage”. He also recalls that the government has set up allowances for the liberal professions in 2021.
These factors are set to play even stronger on the cost of IJ in 2023. In April, Health Insurance noted that the amounts of IJ recorded between the springs of 2022 and 2023 were up by 6.1% compared to the same period between 2021-2022. With a very likely major slippage compared to what the government had planned to establish the Social Security budget.
The cost of work stoppages has been in the sights of the executive for several years. During the previous five-year term, he had put the subject on the table several times and commissioned a group of experts.
Reverse
In 2018, however, he backtracked on the idea of transferring the cost of part of the sick leave to employers in the face of opposition from employers and unions. He had also given up going further the following year. “Against the increase in the cost of work stoppages, there is no consensual miracle recipe”, argued the Minister of Health at the time, Agnès Buzyn.
The majority of the increase in costs is due to the long stoppages of elderly patients, explained the minister. “People are retiring later and later, but between the ages of 60 and 65, the risk of cancer or stroke is higher. The implementation of the pension reform promises to revive the debate.
Bercy, however, wishes to emphasize that the current reflection on daily allowances is “complementary” to preventive measures, in particular to avoid accidents at work.
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