Eric Chenut reacted Tuesday on franceinfo to the annual study by the insurance comparator Meilleurtaux.com, which shows that those over 60 have seen their contract increase by almost 5% on average this year.
The rise in prices does not spare complementary health insurance. The insurance comparator Meilleurtaux.com publishes its annual study on Tuesday September 26. It is those over 60 who are seeing the amount of their contract increase the most this year: +4.9% increase on average. And next year, with the new expenses covered by complementary health insurance, a “fairly colossal bill” must be distributed “on all complementary health insurance members”warns on franceinfo the president of the National Federation of French Mutuality, Eric Chenut.
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franceinfo: The 100% health reform was supposed to guarantee better access to care. Was its financing poorly anticipated?
Eric Chenut: From the start, we have been in favor of this reform because it makes it possible to avoid forgoing care. We saw this particularly in dentistry, some people postponed or did not provide all the care they needed. So it’s a useful reform. On the other hand, it has a real cost and this cost was underestimated at the start. As we can see today, there is extremely strong momentum in dental, audiology and also optics. However, in optics, we should have generated savings which are not there.
“This 100% health reform means more than 1.5 billion in additional expenses for supplementary workers, knowing that it is the supplementary workers who pay 77% of this reform.”
Eric Chenut, president of the National Federation of French Mutualityon franceinfo
Does this mean further increases?
In 2024, there will be 1.3 billion in new expenses for complementary health insurance. Expenditures that seem inappropriate to us: the increase in the co-payment on dental care from 30 to 40%, all of which we will have to finance without creating value for those with social insurance. We are obviously ready to play our full part in the preventive shift that we made by signing the dental agreement (…). We are obviously ready to take our full part in the upgrading of medical/paramedical professions to support the adaptation of the health system, to guarantee the attractiveness of care professions. But all of these expenses represent a fairly colossal bill that will have to be spread across all supplementary health insurance members. We mutual societies do not have shareholders to pay, we are non-profit organizations and we simply have to be in technical balance at the end of the year. We cannot generate deficits carried over from year to year. We do not have the legal right to do so.
Is there a risk that members will change insurers or revise the guarantees downward?
Yes, that’s why we think we really need to sit around the table and ask ourselves how tomorrow we will sustainably finance our social protections, whether in health or welfare.
“We have seen extremely high health dynamics since Covid. Health spending, both in the city and in hospitals, is increasing very significantly, much higher than the projections that we were able to make for the first half of the year. 2023. So we will also have to pass this on.”
Eric Chenut, president of the National Federation of French Mutualityon franceinfo
But also for incapacity, invalidity and death. We also have a clear progression. All these elements are correlated with the general state of health of the population, with the advancing age of our population. So, we really need to anticipate it better, work on efficiency gains and collectively determine what part of our wealth, our resources, we wish to individually and collectively devote to caring for each other. others. It’s a real societal choice and if we want to maintain solidarity-based social protection, it’s really imperative to do so.