the new version of the decree provides for a waiting time of 45 minutes for patients

In the first version, a “reasonable period” was simply mentioned.

The waiting time for patients for ambulances and shared taxis should not exceed 45 minutes, Franceinfo learned, which was able to consult, Wednesday, November 19, the new version of the draft decree. Despite the requests of patient associations, the immunocompromised will also have to share their ambulance, their taxi or their light medical vehicle (VSL).

A maximum waiting time for shared health transport is therefore the only concession made by the government, according to the new version of the draft decree. In the first version, a “reasonable time” had simply been mentioned. With the updated version, the rules remain the same, there is just one clarification on the duration: you will therefore have to share your medical vehicle with other patients, with a detour of ten kilometers possible per passenger, within the limit of one total detour of thirty kilometers, and the waiting time for shared medical transport, before and after treatment, must not exceed 45 minutes.

Shared taxis and ambulances are part of a measure voted by Parliament in the fall of 2023 to allow Social Security to make savings. The reimbursement of medical transport cost six billion euros in 2022. And they “grew last year by 7%”, had defended Frédéric Valletoux, then Minister Delegate in charge of Health, on franceinfo on April 8. “We must find ways to contain the surge in these expenses”he said.

Patient associations have repeatedly asked the government to allow immunocompromised patients, dialysis patients or those undergoing chemotherapy, to keep individual transport, in order to avoid contamination between patients within the same vehicle. A request that remained a dead letter, despite the promises of Frédéric Valletoux, interviewed on May 25 on this subject on franceinfo. “If it is for the most fragile, the immunocompromised, they are not affected by the measure!”had certified the Minister Delegate in charge of Health. “We understand that here I am talking about people who are able to take the same vehicle because they live in the same city and they are going to the same place, at the same time.”

The draft decree must pass on December 3 before the national council of the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam), the last step before the signing of the decree by the government and the publication of the measure in the official journal.