More than a million French people could soon be exempted from medical franchise. This announcement was made by the government as part of the Social Security Financing Bill for 2015.
The medical deductible is an amount deducted from the reimbursements made by the health insurance fund for medicines, paramedical acts and medical transport. It amounts to 0.50 euro per box of medication; 0.50 euro per paramedical act and 2 euros per medical transport. It is capped at 50 euros per year, in total.
1.2 million ACS beneficiaries (people earning less than €11,700 per year) should benefit from the end of this medical deductible, which means that they will no longer have to pay for medicines, paramedical acts and medical transport.
“A device that creates health inequalities”
This measure is intended to reduce inequalities in access to care, as explained by the project leader, the PS deputy for Isère Olivier Véran: “It’s a corner sunk in the system that creates health inequalities what are medical deductibles”.
ACS beneficiaries will also be the first to be entitled to the generalized third-party payment from 2015, that is to say that they will no longer have to advance the costs of their consultation with the doctor. One device that dissatisfies practitioners but satisfies public opinion (66% of those polled are for it, according to an Opinion Ways poll for the union of liberal doctors). Generalized third-party payment will be extended to all French people from 2017.
