Sector 2 doctors practice less than fee overruns. A document made public by the National Health Insurance Fund reports that the rate of excess fees for all sector 2 physicians rose from 55.4% in 2012 to 55.1% in 2013 and 54, 1% in 2014.
This downward trend is a positive signal for health insurance. She sees in it a virtuous effect of the establishment of the healthcare access contract (CAS). Through this system, introduced in 2012, doctors undertake to moderate their excess fees for three years. In return, part of their health and retirement contributions are covered by health insurance (this is already the case for sector 1 doctors). Patients also benefit from the system by being better reimbursed by Social Security.
Moreover, it is among the sector 2 doctors who signed the CAS that the drop in the rate of excess fees is most visible: it was 24.3% in 2014 against 27.7% in 2013 and 28, 4% in 2012.
A very relative drop?
This decline in fee overruns would not be so obvious if we take into account the increase in Social Security rates granted to doctors who have signed the CAS, underlines Le Figaro. Their patients are reimbursed on a basis of 25 or 28 euros for example, against 23 euros previously, specifies the newspaper. So “if the doctor does not increase his rates, his rate of overrun then decreases mechanically.”
>> To read also: Fee overruns: new contracts to limit them
