Most of them are the result of the system put in place to allow parents to keep their children.
- The number of work stoppages has exploded since the start of containment
- Many are related to the need to keep children at home
The Covid-19 epidemic is disrupting all sectors. Health insurance is one of the administrations in great demand at the moment. Its director, Nicolas Revel, told France info, that more than one million judgments have been requested: 850,000 relate to childcare and 250,000 to vulnerable and at-risk persons. This large number of requests was recorded in 15 days.
Devices to facilitate compensation
Covid-19 obliges vulnerable people to protect themselves even more than the general population, and to stop work when it cannot be done at home: they can benefit from a work stoppage and their requests are processed through a specific to health insurance. Pregnant women can also request it when they have entered their third trimester of pregnancy.
The closing of schools on March 16 also forced some parents to stop working in order to keep them. The government has created a system allowing them to benefit from a work stoppage when the child is under 16, and has abolished the three-day waiting period. Normally and for each stoppage of work, no compensation is paid during the first three days. In the Official newspaper from March 24, 2020it is specified that its abolition concerns employees in the private sector and the public service for the entire duration of the state of health emergency.
Checks will be made
Some of these requests could be refused in the days and weeks to come. Nicolas Revel, Director General of the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam) noted, Tuesday March 24 on France info that “a few people have used the tele-service to obtain a work stoppage without necessarily fully meeting the criteria”. In all cases, the Cnam teams are mobilized to check if they are regulatory. For them, teleworking should also become widespread very soon. The implementation of this new work organization takes time, it is necessary to create accounts for a large part of the 70,000 Cnam employees, who do not usually work in a network.
“There will be no late payment”
In this busy time, the priority is to “paying benefits and reimbursing treatment, paying daily allowances in the event of sick leave and paying pensions for people on disability” in the words of Nicolas Revel. In The Parisianhe claims that the average processing time for files is 29 days: “There may be funds where the delays are shorter, others where they are longer, especially in the regions most affected by the pandemic where staff from the funds may have had to stop. However, he assures that there will be “no late payment”.
