Endometriosis soon to be recognized as a long-term condition?

A great victory for those who fight for the recognition of endometriosis. On Wednesday July 29, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, seized the tribune of questions to the government to announce that he was going to follow up on the request of the Endomind association and 250 parliamentarians. “I was asked this morning to consider recognition as a long-term condition (ALD), I immediately contacted the Social Security department so that we could investigate the request and see if there is a need to follow up. to this requesthe declared in the hemicycle. I don’t have the technical details, but endometriosis makes a large number of women suffer enough like that for us to ask ourselves the question.

A great recognition for Nathalie Clary, president of the Endomind association, at the initiative of the movement. “It is a satisfaction! This is indeed the goal of our campaign with parliamentarians which began in March. I am very happy because this is the first time that the question of including endometriosis in the list of long-term conditions will be studied.” This acknowledgment with the Social Security allows the exemption of the moderating ticket, that is to say not to pay the part normally supported by the patient. However, this disease which develops endometrial tissue – the mucous membrane inside the uterus – outside the uterine cavity causes lesions, cysts or inflammatory reactions triggering sometimes life-threatening pain. The association ensures that this disease is much more than a menstrual pain but alters sexual life (gynecological pain, questions about fertility, guilt in the couple), professional life (frequent sick leaves) as well as self-esteem. self (chronic fatigue, anxiety, etc.).

Long-term fight

If the instruction is open, it is not necessarily said that endometriosis will be recognized as an ALD. “I’ve learned from experience not to rejoice too soonblows for her part Yasmine Candau, president of EndoFrance, another association for the recognition of endometriosis created in 2001. We have been soliciting parliamentarians and governments since 2005. For the first time, we had the impression of being heard by the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, but her departure from the government and the arrival of Covid-19 suspended the new projects in favor of the recognition of endometriosis.” For her part, the president of Endomind strongly hopes that this approach will succeed. “Endometriosis meets the definition of a long-term condition as well as that of a chronic disease. Nothing prevents its registrationshe hammers. Admittedly, there are 3 million women who suffer from this disease, but the repercussions of endometriosis vary enormously from one woman to another. Those who will need to be treated should seize this right because the cost of treatment varies from nothing to several hundred euros per month!“

To date, some patients can obtain financial assistance by filing an off-list individual long-term illness file (ALD31). However, this administrative procedure can take several months and recognition is not automatic. “There are great disparities: a person suffering from endometriosis in Marseille can obtain help while another in Paris, for example, suffering from the same pathology with the same intensity of the aura will notassures Nathalie Clary. There are no criteria at the national level, it is decided at the level of the regional health insurance funds. It is unfair.“

Whether successful or not, this support campaign is also a way of putting this disease back on the desk of the Minister of Health. Still poorly understood by health professionals, according to the two associations, endometriosis is diagnosed on average 7 years after its first symptoms. One woman of childbearing age out of 10 suffers from this sometimes debilitating disease, i.e. between 1.5 and 2.5 million French women.