According to a report, students’ access to social protection and health care is not guaranteed. Almost 6 in 10 even have difficulty getting reimbursed for their health expenses.
In 2013, 2.4 million students enrolled in a higher education institution. Whether it is a first registration or, on the contrary, the continuation of a course started several years ago, they were in principle invited to join one of the eleven student mutuals responsible for the management of their compulsory social security.
Often criticized for their mismanagement, in particular the LMDE, student mutuals were the subject of an investigation initiated by the Defender of Rights, Jacques Toubon. Launched in December 2014, the call for evidence on student social protection received nearly 1,500 responses. Their content has been analyzed and is subject toa report including Lthe results published this Tuesday are damning.
Difficulties getting reimbursed
Indeed, “while it is a right guaranteed by our Constitution, the access of all students to effective social protection and care does not seem assured”, it is written in the report.
The testimonies thus reveal that 26% of students have already encountered a problem in matters of affiliation and / or disaffiliation with their student mutuals. In addition, 23% of the students who answered underline having been forced to advance their health costs, “in particular because of difficulties of affiliation”, underlines the report. And 36% of students testify to difficulties in obtaining a functional Vitale card.
Worse still, 57% of them encountered difficulties in obtaining reimbursement of the expenses incurred. Finally, 67% deplore the mediocre quality of the information and responses provided by their mutual.
The worrying situation of ALD students
To end this overwhelming constant, one point particularly drew the attention of the rapporteurs, that of the so-called “worrying” situation of students with long-term illnesses (ALD).
Indeed, while these serious and / or chronic illnesses give rise to the right to 100% coverage by health insurance, in practice, students with ALD are sometimes issued a certificate of affiliation by their mutuals. “Classic”. This document does not allow them to assert their right to 100% coverage of their health expenses.
In the Defender of Rights report, an ALD student named “Luc” testifies, for example, of a request still not processed after 3 months …
The recommendations of the Defender of Rights
Faced with this disastrous record, Jacques Toubon makes recommendations. For example, he asks that student mutuals revise their procedures in order to make affiliation immediately efficient. But also, that they significantly improve the processing times of the files submitted to them.
In addition, he would like these organizations to take into account the special case of students with ALD “who must be able to benefit from an advance payment exemption. “
Finally, for the Defender of Rights, mutual societies should make efforts to provide their members with better information, in particular with regard to legal remedies.
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