Health spending was brought under control in 2016. With an increase of 1.8%, it meets the set target. But spending in the city has seen a major slippage.
The Ministry of Health can take a breather. In 2016, health spending increased by 1.8%. An increase, of course, but the lowest since 1997. The National Health Insurance Expenditure Objective (ONDAM) is therefore respected. In an opinion delivered on April 14, the Alert Committee considers finances on the right track. But serious inequalities continue to be observed between the city and the hospital.
Heavy spending in the city
The health establishments are, in a way, the good students in relation to the objectives. In 2016, hospital care generated 77.6 billion euros in expenditure. This is 370 million less than the estimates of the ONDAM Alert Committee.
The outpatient sector cannot boast the same results. In town, health and paramedical professionals have seen spending explode. Fees higher than expected in the medical and dental sector, number of daily allowances… the causes are multiple. As a result, the sums exceed the targets by half a billion. Expenses thus amount to 85 billion euros.
More optimism for 2017
The outpatient slippage is a black spot. But good news emerges from the opinion of the ONDAM Alert Committee. The amounts payable by patients have fallen steadily since 2011, from just over 9.3% to just over 8%. Marisol Touraine and Michel Sapin salute the preponderant role of health insurance in supporting innovative and costly care.
Overall, the results therefore remain positive. In 2016, health spending was around 185 billion euros. Credits have been put in reserve in order to compensate for any overflow. As a result, they should be enough to support the year 2017, believes the Alert Committee. A less pessimistic opinion than its previous version.
This should not, however, encourage the players to relax their efforts. The objective remains to restore balance to the accounts of Social Security, in all its branches. The Minister of Health set the course last September. “In 2017, the” security hole “will have disappeared,” she then announced in The echoes.
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