EUROPE
French government unveils 2025 health budget

French ministers on Thursday (10 October) approved the Social Security Financing Bill, which aims to reduce the social security deficit from the €18 billion expected for the year to €16 billion next year. 

Ministers approved the 2025 finance bill on Thursday, which aims to save around €4 billion.

It is a “necessary brake” to ensure the sustainability of the French social protection model that is “reasonable”, said newly appointed Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin.

To achieve these savings, the French government has outlined a series of measures, starting with a reduction in the amount reimbursed by the national health insurance for medical consultations, combined with a higher contribution from supplementary health insurance. Overall, the share of health insurance would fall from the current 70% to 60%.

The bill, which still needs to be approved by National Assembly MPs, also aims to open negotiations with representatives of radiologists and medical analysis laboratories to reduce the prices of medical imaging and biological analyses. In parallel, Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq will provide better support to doctors in prescribing biological and medical imaging procedures to prevent overuse.

With the new budget, the government also intends to reduce the ceiling for sick leave reimbursement, a measure that would save €600 million. From the fourth day of sick leave, health insurance will continue to cover 50% of the daily wage, but up to a maximum of 1.4 so-called “points” of the French minimum wage (SMIC), compared with 1.8 points previously.

The government’s budget also plans to reduce medicine prices.

We plan to work with the pharmaceutical industry on a plan to reduce the prices of certain drugs,” said Darrieussecq, saying this could save €1 billion.

But “we will also simplify the method used to calculate the ‘safeguard clause’,” the minister added, referring to a mechanism under which companies pay back part of their sales to the French national health service if the cost of the medicine exceeds that set by the budget.

The Social Security Financing Bill also provides for a six-month postponement of the revaluation of pensions, indexed to inflation. With the revaluation, which usually takes place in January, now taking place on 1 July of next year, savings worth €3.6 billion are expected. 

The bill must now be examined by the lawmakers in the National Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee, and will then go to the plenary session at the end of the month.

[Edited by Daniel Eck]

Source: Euractiv.com

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