Health. The price of doctor consultations increases this Sunday

Health. The price of doctor consultations increases this Sunday
Health. The price of doctor consultations increases this Sunday

Early Christmas gift or deserved upgrade? This Sunday, private doctors – general practitioners and specialists – will increase their prices. A measure obtained last June, during turbulent negotiations between the unions of private doctors and the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam).

Thus, from Sunday, the consultation of a general practitioner (contracted sector 1) will increase from €26.50 to €30. The same goes for the price of consultations with psychiatrists, whose prices increase to €55 (compared to €51.70), pediatricians, dermatologists, neurologists, gynecologists, etc. And that's not all: the prices of specialist doctors are planned to increase again in July 2025.

Indirect cost for the French

An increase which should, initially, be painless for patients' wallets. In addition to the remaining charge of €2 that the patient already had to pay during each consultation with their general practitioner, Health Insurance will continue to cover 70% of the costs and complementary health insurance – for those who have them – the remaining 30%.

Except that indirectly, when Health Insurance spends more money to reimburse consultations, in fine…It is the French who pay. In total, all the measures negotiated between the unions and the Cnam should cost 1.6 billion euros by 2029.

Same calculation for complementary health insurance which will pass on this price increase to their members. According to figures revealed on Wednesday by the French Mutualité, the increase in mutual rates will reach on average 6% in 2025.

“The objective [de cette hausse des tarifs] is to make community medicine more attractive for general practitioners and these specialists and thus revitalize the installation of practices, an essential local link for our health system and for the daily life of policyholders”, explains the Cnam which recalls that a million general practitioner consultations take place every day.

“This increase is not enough”

“This increase is a good thing, it stabilizes the purchasing power of doctors which had been eroded over the years,” recognizes Jean-Christophe Nogrette, deputy general secretary of the MG union, who regrets, however, that the increase in price does not allow the recruitment of medical secretary. “To improve attractiveness, we must improve working conditions: the mental load, the 60 hours per week… all these criteria which, today, scare away young people,” insists the trade unionist, himself a general practitioner in Haute-.

“This increase is not enough to make our professions attractive, it does not even cover inflation,” retorts Avenir-Spé, the union of specialist doctors, which recalls that “the prices had not increased for a long time while “a lot of effort is required of doctors.”

An improvement in conditions that will allow practitioners to give more time to each patient? “Honestly, no, it’s not going to change anything at that level. “And that doesn’t solve the problem of the shortage of doctors,” adds the Avenir-Spé communications department. On Doctolib, some doctors offer reservation slots every 12 minutes. Insufficient consultation time, for both the doctor and the patient.

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