The Senate examines the health bill in plenary session this Monday. The text on which he will have to vote has been thoroughly revised.
The Senate begins this Monday the examination of the health bill in plenary session. Since its vote in the National Assembly, the text has been profoundly revised in July by the Senate Social Affairs Commission, chaired by Alain Milon (Les Républicains).
Over 1,000 amendments
During this reading, the members of the committee adopted 206 amendments and deleted 50 articles. It’s certain this rewritten text that the senators will have to pronounce, as well as on the 1,177 amendments which have been tabled in the Senate on this text since July. Among them, we find two amendments tabled by Marisol Touraine to improve access to visual care following the Voynet report conducted by IGAS (General Inspectorate of Social Affairs).
This measure should be the subject of a consensus, unlike many points that will not fail to scold the minds of senators. Several issues have thus been at the center of tensions and at the heart of the news for several months.
Generalized third party payer
Among the subjects overlooked by the Social Affairs Commission is the generalized third-party payment, one of the most controversial measures of this bill which mixes very different themes. In July, the senators deleted Article 18, which crystallizes the demands of the protesting doctors. They have already announced strike movements and cabinet closings from October 3.
The text provides for allowing patients not to advance the costs of the consultation. Doctors fear excess paperwork and late payments from Health Insurance and supplementary insurance. The article could be reintroduced by the joint committee which will be set up at the end of the examination of the Senate. The National Assembly, which will complete the examination of the bill, will have the last word during the final vote.
Reorganization of care by the ARS
The territorial reorganization of care by the Regional Health Agencies desired by the government has also been radically modified by the senators of the Commission, who considered that it was a “hyper-administration device”. ”, Which would introduce a“ form of planning unacceptable to liberal practitioners ”.
Neutral package
Another article deleted by the Commission: the neutral package, at the heart of a standoff between tobacconists who express their discontent in the street, and the government which wants its entry into force in 2016. The senators considered “premature the” enthusiasm generated by this reform ”, they specified in July in a press release.
Instead of the neutral package, the senators of the Commission want the surface of future cigarette packs to be 65% covered with health warnings, but that each brand retains its visual specificity and its packaging. An amendment was adopted to this effect.
.