Traffic slowed down on Monday December 2 in Lyon, particularly in the northwest of the city and near the Fourvière tunnel. The reason: a demonstration of several dozen taxis, who denounced the new pricing for medical transport. A draft health insurance framework agreement plans to go from around 1.50 euros per kilometer for medical transport to one euro per kilometer.
Sitting around a brazier that has been going since 3 a.m., Laetitia Thébault acts as a taxi. The new agreement which is due to come into force lowers the price per kilometer for the transport of patients. And in Côte-d'Or, its department, it would be a 40% drop in turnover. “We will no longer be able to work, we will go out of business for many of us.” Medical transport represents more than 90% of its turnover. “I work mainly with policyholders, so we fight for us, but for them too. Because if they really do what they told us, they will be taken care of completely differently, compared to today.”
Mickaël Chaput, a taxi driver in western Lyon, travels between all the hospitals in the metropolis. According to the upcoming agreement, more patients will have to be put in their car, according to the concept of shared transportation. “Today, we call it simultaneous transport. We do little of it because today, when you take someone out of chemotherapy, there is still privacy,” he assures.
“I have already transported people who were sick by car, we have to stop every ten minutes. So it is not possible to transport several people. Adding waiting time to the journey, this is not possible. “It's not profitable for us and it's not good for them.”
Mickaël Chaput, taxi in Lyonat franceinfo
This problem is particularly acute in the countryside, in medical deserts such as in the department of Allier, that of Sylvain Rives. This driver sometimes goes as far as Paris to transport children, particularly those suffering from cancer. “We play a social rolehe insists. We become a vital link for people, to access care and in particular to medical specialists who are often in Clermont-Ferrand or Lyon. They are not packages, they are customers, they are patients, they are sick people. These are sometimes children suffering from very serious pathologies. We are their link and we are also their confidant. We are their support, we help them in the fight against the disease.”
The mobilization continues all day and perhaps also on Tuesday. The taxi organizations will agree on the slogan on Monday afternoon.
