“We nevertheless regret that some hospitals are trying to compensate for the new rules by charging different and higher supplements more often,” laments its general secretary Paul Callewaert. Federal Minister of Public Health Frank Vandenbroucke is talking about strengthening measures against these supplements.
Stricter rules regarding additional fees for scanners, also called “CT scans”, and for MRIs have been in place since December 4, 2023. They were implemented because hospitals almost systematically requested additional fees for these so-called heavy medical imaging exams. According to Solidaris, this compromised accessibility.
The socialist mutuality analyzed its members’ invoices to check whether hospitals and radiologists complied with the new rules. She compared the periods December 2023-April 2024 and December 2022-April 2023. It appears that patients pay much less and much less often additional fees.
Solidaris, for example, saw the number of supplements billed for heavy medical imaging decrease by 69.4%. During the first five months after the measure came into force, its members paid around 1.2 million euros less in additional fees. This represents a drop of 53.3%.
Based on these results and its market share, the mutuality has calculated that for the entire population, the bill for supplementary fees should decrease by 11 million euros over a period of one year.
“It is therefore clear that by removing financial obstacles such as these fee supplements, we are ensuring that healthcare is affordable,” welcomes Federal Minister of Public Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit).
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Solidaris nevertheless notes that, since the introduction of the stricter regime, some hospitals and doctors have tried to compensate for this drop, for example by charging more extra for other medical imaging examinations, such as a traditional x-ray or an ultrasound. The socialist organization recorded an amount of 354,541 euros among its members for the first five months of the year.
“It is regrettable, but not really surprising, that some hospitals and radiologists partly compensate for the loss of income in another way,” reacts the Minister of Public Health. Even if the overall result is positive, that cannot and should not be the objective, he believes.
Frank Vandenbroucke therefore asks these hospitals “to examine the analyzes and draw their own conclusions honestly. Before the ban, there were many hospitals in this country where no additional fees were charged. These hospitals prove that the argument that revenue from fee surcharges is necessary to provide adequate care does not hold water.
“I conclude that in the future we must expand and strengthen the measures and actions against fee surcharges, because they are clearly bearing fruit,” concludes the Flemish socialist.
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