2023-11-22 18:54:38
The National Assembly voted, Tuesday, November 21 in the evening, an amendment to the proposed law on “aging well” providing for reserving part of the profits of private for-profit nursing homes for the improvement of “well-being of residents”.
This amendment, defended by the governmentprovides for a fraction of the profits of commercial nursing homes – up to 10% – to be directed towards “a fund intended exclusively to finance actions to improve the accommodation and reception conditions of residents”.
For the government, it is a question of learning the lessons of the Orpéa scandal, which revealed the embezzlement of certain commercial nursing homes, cutting corners on the quality of accommodation or food for residents to finance an economic model based above all on the valorization of the real estate.
“A clearer commitment from private nursing homes”
Even if the Minister of Solidarity, Aurore Bergé, praised the efforts of nursing home companies in this area, “the idea is that there is a clearer commitment from lucrative private nursing homes in order to guarantee that these models always benefit the quality of care for residents”she explained to the deputies.
The left-wing opposition wanted to go further. While the Socialist Party demanded that the fund be funded by at least 5% of profits, La France insoumise called for “transform private, for-profit nursing homes into associative, cooperative or public structures”wishing that « the fraction of profits which will be used to finance the improvement of the well-being of residents cannot be less than 10%”.
The Assembly finally decided in favor of the solution proposed by the government for which the share of profits allocated to the fund “cannot be greater than 10%”the exact figure to be specified by a decree in the Council of State.
An “inappropriate” system, judge private nursing homes
If this future decree must also specify the activities that can be financed by the fund and the methods of controlling the investments made, Synerpa, which brings together commercial nursing homes, wants “precise editorial guarantees”.
Judging the device “substantially inappropriate” et “unfairly stigmatizing for the private sector”, he is concerned about the economic model of private for-profit nursing homes whose profits currently make it possible to relieve significant debt. He therefore asks that “the wording of the amendment clearly details the nature of the calculation base and the methods for establishing the reserve” and wants to ensure that the fund that will be created will be “exclusively” dedicated to each establishment concerned.
Recalling that “the private sector has contributed greatly to the renovation or construction of equipment which has renewed an aging fleet”Synerpa underlines that the benefits of the private sector, far from being what the collective imagination or certain political discourses can relay, “are already largely invested in the continuous improvement of the support and well-being of older people”.
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