In its annual Observatory on the rights of patients, the Ciss reports that a third of the patients who turned to the association complained of discrimination.
Stubborn and silent discrimination. This is what highlights the ninth observatory on patients’ rights, carried out by the CISS (Interassociative Collective on Health), which represents users. For this survey, 9,400 requests made by mail or telephone to the Santé Info Droits, the Ciss line, were reviewed.
State of health, origins
The survey reveals that a third of requests relate to difficulties in accessing the health system. Patients complain of diagnostic errors or delays, as well as medical accidents; 80% of the questions concern the medical file, to which the patients do not seem to have had access, although they would have liked to initiate a procedure to assert their damage.
In addition, 31% of patients who turned to the CISS said they were victims of discrimination in their access to care because of their state of health (disability, pregnancy, genetic characteristics), or because they were beneficiaries of the CMU-C, ACS or State Medical Aid (31%), or because of their origins (18%).
“If we encourage [les usagers] to question themselves about their confrontation with situations of discrimination, these appear in fact much more frequent … but so integrated in the collective and individual experiences linked to illness and health, that they often go unnoticed ” , notes Danièle Desclerc-Dulac in the editorial attached to the report.
Coverage of care
The second major concern of users concerns the coverage of care by compulsory schemes (amount of the remainder to be paid, services, transport costs, care protocol for ALD) and complementary health insurance (assistance with the payment of a complementary, CMU-C…).
The CISS has observed an increase (+ 12% compared to 2014) in requests relating to insurance and loans, with 1,130 calls and emails (discrimination and insurance, AERAS agreement in the event of an aggravated health risk, etc.). Three quarters of requests concern insurance and real estate loans, with the question of the right to be forgotten which comes up regularly.
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