The situation is “alarming”. A study published by the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir, Tuesday, November 8, highlights the difficulties of access to four categories of doctors (general practitioners, ophthalmologists, pediatricians and gynecologists) throughout France. While an epidemic of bronchiolitis paralyzes pediatric emergencies this fall, the liberal system is also saturated.
Thus, 27.5% of children live in a pediatric medical desert. In other words, some 2.1 million children aged 0 to 10 are without a pediatrician within 45 minutes of their home.
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This study is based on the location of doctors (with an indicator called “localized potential accessibility”, APL) and the rates charged, municipality by municipality. The study also takes into account the geographical distance and the financial capacity of the patients to be treated. This supply of care was crossed with a potential demand for care, which means that“a municipality without children is not assigned an APL pointing to a lack of paediatricians”explains UFC-Que Choisir.
The price of consultations and excess fees charged by some practitioners is an important indicator when it comes to access to care. If they remain less frequent for general practitioners than for specialists, according to UFC-Que Choisir, they represent an obstacle for patients who have little purchasing power. “When we think of medical deserts, we think of general practitioners and rural areas. But this study shows that the financial aspect accentuates the difficulties of access to care, especially for specialists”underlines to franceinfo Maria Roubtsova, the author of this study.
In the case of paediatricians, taking into account only doctors who practice the Social Security tariff, nearly half of the children (46.8%) are in the “medical deserts” category (compared to 27.5% all categories combined).
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The idea is not necessarily to call into question the excess fees, but to “defend patients to prevent them from ending up with unpleasant surprises”supports maria Rubtsova. “Certain reimbursement bases must also be reviewed, for gynecologists for example, since approximately two thirds of these specialists practice [des dépassements]. We clearly see a will of the Sécu to rely on the reimbursement of the mutuals.