The large private doctors’ unions have been demanding a price increase for several months. On Thursday, February 8th, the health insurance company paved the way for setting a price of 30 euros for general practitioner consultations and demanding something in return “Developments to improve the health of the population”.
In one communicatedHealth insurance “confirms that it is prepared to finance an increase in general practitioner consultations to 30 euros and to strengthen specialist measures.” However, these are “will only be implemented if they are accompanied by other developments aimed at improving the health of the population” in current negotiations, Medicare added.
The six unions representing private doctors have been meeting since early Thursday afternoon at the headquarters of the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM) to negotiate prices for the next five years. These negotiations are expected to continue in the coming weeks and Medicare will announce a new plenary session “in the first half of March”.
Counterparties in exchange for the tariff increase
Advice for 30 euros – compared to 26.50 euros since November 2023 – is the minimum demand of the unions towards general practitioners. The state and health insurance companies had sent positive signals for this increase in consultation prices in recent months, but had not revealed their cards.
Your suggestion is therefore not without consideration. The health insurance company therefore asks that the negotiations make it possible to achieve this “ambitious reform of flat-rate compensation”with the possibility of compensation “completely blanket” for doctors who want it.
She demands too “Improvements in access to care”particularly a strengthening of the guards of liberal doctors “first part of the night”.
She wishes too “a very ambitious action program on the quality and relevance of care”a way to demand greater commitment from physicians to curb the unstoppable growth in healthcare spending.
Health insurance is particularly targeting drug consumption: according to figures from Public Health France, France is the fourth country with the highest antibiotic consumption in Europe after Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.
Price negotiations with doctors failed last year. This failure led to the application of a provisional tariff that increased basic consultations by 1.50 euros, an amount considered insufficient by all medical unions, although the tariffs had not changed since 2017.
