July 6, 1998 – According to studies by the public administration, the National Syndicate of Homeopathic Doctors and the National Order of Physicians, homeopathy saves the French social security system a lot of money.
This is one of the conclusions put forward by Me Isabelle Robard, in an analysis of the ambiguous legal situation of homeopathy in France. “It is thus, for 1993, that a homeopathic doctor costs 249KF of fees against 414KF for a general practitioner and he prescribes for 483KF of drugs against 919KF for the general practitioner. In short, an allopathic doctor costs Social Security twice as much as a homeopathic doctor: 1,830KF against 938KF. ”
This would in itself be good news for Social Security, but there is more: the daily allowances paid for reasons of illness fall by 80% and more among homeopaths, that is to say that there is no sometimes no sick leave.
“The National Health Insurance Fund noted the following facts: 3.5 times fewer prescriptions for work stoppages for a homeopath, fewer consultations and more than 40% less expenditure for investigation and additional procedures. In short, homeopathic doctors cost on average 42% less than their allopathic colleagues at the French Social Security ”, writes Me Robard.
From 1980 to 1996, in France, the number of homeopathic physicians with a Special Mode of Exercise (which allows their patients to be reimbursed for consultations by Social Security) rose from 422 to 1387. Around the same period (1982-1996), the percentage of French people resorting from time to time to homeopathy rose from 16 to 38%.
HealthPassport.net
According to Homeopathy: future therapy and ambiguous legal situation, Me Isabelle Robard, Æsculape, international review of unconventional medicine, May-June 1998.
