“The consequence of the government’s budget choices is the financialization of healthcare”

by time news

2024-10-11 13:00:00

theThe Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS) 2025, tabled on Thursday 10 October, targets the healthcare sector as a priority, both on moderating expenditure and increasing revenue through social contributions. Among the measures, the public reimbursement rate for medical visits should fall from 70% to 60%, with a saving of 1.1 billion euros. In addition to this dangerous and ineffective measure – no restructuring of the healthcare system has been announced – the rest of the savings will be achieved by reducing the prices of healthcare services and products, mechanically worsening the crisis of the healthcare system.

As far as dental care is concerned, this transfer to mutuals has already taken place in October 2023, with harmful consequences for insured people. Public reimbursement has been reduced from 70% to 60%, for a saving of 500 million euros per year. Contributions for complementary health insurance then increased by 10% in 2024, for an overall increase of 4 billion, instead of 1-1.5 billion per year in previous years. This disproportion between tied private spending and saved public spending (in a ratio of 5 euros for 1 public euro saved) is the sign of a profound dysfunction of the private market, where the opacity of information distorts competition and transforms the tied user in cash. cow for operators.

Among other things, the share of management expenses of complementary insurers has not decreased for ten years (exceeds 20% of contributions): it has further increased by over 8 billion in 2023. Thus, for an amount of 10 euros reimbursed through their supplement , the insured pays 3 euros in management costs, compared to 30 cents for public health insurance. The main victims of this disproportionate increase are middle class pensioners, who finance 100% of the contracts whose costs are three times higher than those of active workers, the latter bearing only 50% of the burden, another aberration of the system.

The financialization of primary care

The cost of a healthcare contract represents for them more than a month’s pension, without any guarantee of access to specialists, who are poorly covered by most of the contracts stipulated. Before the announcement of the PLFSS 2025, the expected increase in contributions to supplementary insurance was in the order of 8% for 2025, i.e. 150 euros per pensioner and 3.5 billion euros overall. If this new transfer is voted on, the increase will well exceed 10%, approaching 250 euros per pensioner and 5 billion in total. To this spending constraint will be added the six-monthly de-indexation of retirement pensions in 2025, provided for by the 2025 finance law.

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