Of the 72 midwives who perform home births, only 4 have compulsory insurance. They expect the government to take action to lower the amount of premiums.
Midwives and parents are mobilizing to defend home births! Because today, this practice which still concerns 1,000 to 3,000 births per year out of more than 800,000 is seriously threatened. The Ministry of Health recently asked the National Council of the Order of Midwives to require them to send as quickly as possible their insurance certificate, which is essential for the exercise of the profession. However, midwives are currently refusing to pay for these insurances because they do not have the means. And this growing discontent within the profession and families manifested itself last weekend in the ten gatherings that took place all over France to defend this right to give birth to one’s child at home.
Too expensive insurance for safe childbirth
Since the “Kouchner law” of 2002, the French authorities require that midwives who perform this type of home birth be insured. However, the cost of these civil liability insurance is inaccessible for these professionals. It would be between 19,000 and 25,000 euros per year. A sum far too high for these midwives who have an average annual net income equivalent to this amount.
Moreover, these insurance contracts are identical to those offered to gynecologists who for their part, and unlike midwives, carry out high-risk deliveries. But by remaining outside the law, these women expose themselves to severe penalties: a fine of 45,000 euros and removal from the council of the order.
Listen to Doris Nadel, liberal midwife, member of the movement to defend home childbirth: ” We only have low-risk pregnancies and emergency transfers are extremely rare… “
The hope of seeing the central tariff office lower the tariffs
The central pricing office has the exclusive role of setting the amount of premiums offered by private insurance companies. It can, under the conditions fixed by decree in Council of State, determine the amount of a deductible which remains the responsibility of the insured. And it is precisely from this forum that midwives hope to see change coming. “Without the will of the government, it is impossible for us to win our case,” says Doris Nadel.
Finally, in the event that no solution is found, midwives without insurance will have to be content with so-called technical platform solutions, when a hospital opens their doors to them, or birth centers. And Doris Nadel concludes, “midwives want to come out of the shadows. With the request for access to the status of hospital practitioner and the defense of home births, we now want our skills to be fully recognized! “
Listen to Doris Nadel : ” Our wish is to be integrated into the healthcare offer. Home birth is no more risky. In the Netherlands, for example, it affects 1 in 3 births … “
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