From next December, the price of a consultation with the general practitioner could increase to 30 euros, instead of the current 26.5 euros.
- The price of consultations with general practitioners could increase to 30 euros.
- To come into force next December, this Health Insurance proposal must be ratified by a representative group of unions before the end of May.
- For patients, the remaining costs should not change.
30 euros. This may be the price of a consultation with a general practitioner from next December. This amount is the result of five negotiation sessions which took place between the unions of private doctors and Health Insurance.
General practitioner: increase the price of the consultation, without increasing the remainder payable
After these negotiations on the prices of consultations, the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam) made this final proposal of 30 euros for appointments with general practitioners. But before coming into force, this price increase must still be ratified by a sufficiently representative group of unions before the end of May.
If it is validated within this deadline, the consultation would therefore increase from 26.5 euros to 30 euros next December. For patients, this new price should not change anything, because the remainder will remain the same.
“I am convinced that this new agreement will make it possible to improve the health system, explains Thomas Fatôme, general director of the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie, to Release. It is part of our project to improve the attractiveness of general medicine and improve access to care for insured people.“
1.6 billion euros in additional spending to increase prices
The upgrading of the consultation of general practitioners has been requested for a long time by the profession. In November 2023, the price increased from 25 to 26.50 euros. But for a year, as part of an agreement on the text of the new medical convention of 2024, new discussions have been initiated to increase this price. Last April, the Health Insurance proposals, deemed insufficient by the unions, suspended negotiations.
This amount of 30 euros could therefore bring everyone into agreement. In any case, the Confederation of French Medical Unions (CSMF) seems to welcome this text. “Does this agreement, which is a compromise, provide any benefit? I think so, explains Franck Devulder, president of the CSMF union of specialists and generalists. And does it bring additional constraints? (…) I think not.“
In this draft agreement, increases are also planned for specialist consultations and collective commitments for access to care such as, for example, increasing the average patient base of treating doctors.
For its part, the MG France union indicates to The crossthrough the voice of Doctor Jean-Christophe Nogrette, one of the directors, that “almost all elements are on the table“. For him, “one is still missing”: the guarantee that the consultation of ad hoc advice from the specialist, revalued at 60 euros, is always requested by the general practitioner and that specialists cannot therefore use it without going through the attending physician.
For Health Insurance, all the increases provided for in the agreement would obviously have a cost: 1.6 billion euros in additional expenses in the long term.
