the private sector, “in difficulty”, demands a 10% increase in prices

At the end of last year, around 40% of private health establishments were in deficit, according to the Federation of Private Hospitalization (FHP).

Private health establishments, hit by inflation and a deficit “never seen”, are demanding a 10% increase in their resources, that is to say their prices set annually by the State, argued Wednesday February 28 the Federation of Private Hospitalization (FHP). The government must unveil by mid-April at the latest the evolution for 2024 of clinic prices, which are strictly regulated. Hospitals in all sectors (public, private, private non-profit, cancer centers, home hospitalization) suffered greatly from inflation in 2023. They estimate that 1.5 billion euros were missing from the hospital budget. Social security to compensate for this price increase.

Increase in energy, laundry contracts, catering… At the end of 2023, around 40% of private health establishments were in deficit and “if we stay within what is planned” in the Social Security budget for 2024, “53% will be in deficit” at the end of the year, warned the president of the FHP, Lamine Gharbi, at a press conference. Among the most deficit services are emergency and maternity wards, which play an important role “for access to care”he stressed.

The national health insurance spending objective (Ondam) planned for 2024 “is insincere”, and must be revised, he argued. The current Ondam only allows a 3.2% increase in prices for medicine, surgery and obstetrics, while private hospitals “need 10% raise” to finance in particular the increase in costs and apply the same salary increases (in particular for night and weekend shifts) as the public sector, he specified. In mid-February, the government announced a “exceptional help” of 500 million euros for hospitals.