It is always difficult to cut expenses, especially when they concern the sick. But this is what the Barnier government is preparing to do, which to save money intends to review reimbursements for medical transport.
Taxis in the crosshairs
Today, health insurance covers 95% of medical transport expenses, carried out by ambulances, taxis, or VSL. In 2023, patient transport expenses, based on reimbursement, amounted to 6.34 billion euros, of which nearly 2.9 billion – or half – concerned taxis alone.
Indeed, after a historic decline in 2020, linked to the health crisis, transport spending increased by almost 9% between 2022 and 2023. But for taxis alone, the growth in reimbursed costs reached 36% between 2019. and 2023
The government therefore intends to slow down this progression by reviewing the rules of agreements between Health Insurance and taxi representatives. Enough to anger professionals in the sector and provoke snail operations.
The Social Security deficit passed over in silence by Michel Barnier
No more patients to transport
The measure also risks causing a stir to the extent that the patients who use medical transport the most are also those who often have serious illnesses. With the aging of the population, and the increase in long-term illnesses (cancers, etc.), the number of patients to be transported has increased. More than 786,000 additional patients were transported in 2016 and 2023, an increase of 13.8%. Not to mention that with inflation, prices have also increased. The average expenditure per trip reaches 115 euros for ambulances, 61 euros for taxis, and 35 euros for VSL.
However, despite these arguments, which opponents of these budget cuts will not hesitate to use, the government hopes to hold on. “ The objective is both to save a few hundred million euros, but also to stop this infernal drift, by putting another system », pleads a government source.
Last year, the government implemented a new practice, shared transportation, which, as its name suggests, establishes carpooling according to different methods. This had raised the hackles of taxi professionals, but also of patient associations, who cite the difficulties of services, particularly in rural areas. Local elected officials also risk stepping up to the plate. “ This is about greater efficiency, emergency transport will not be affected by these budget cuts“, the government source further defends.
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