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Alternative medicine: reimbursements for consultations in Seine-et-Marne spark controversy
Alternative medicine: reimbursements for consultations in Seine-et-Marne spark controversy – (France 2)
Alternative medicines are chosen by many French people. Effective or not, the sessions are not reimbursed by Health Insurance, except in Seine-et-Marne, where the department’s fund covered up to four sessions per year for one year.
Osteopathy, acupuncture, sophrology… The scientific effectiveness of these unconventional treatment techniques has not been demonstrated. They are therefore not reimbursed by Health Insurance. However, for a year, the Seine-et-Marne Primary Health Insurance Fund “supported, in an individual and exceptional manner, alternative practices for policyholders with limited resources”she specifies.
Reimbursements to precarious patients
Four sessions per year, reimbursed to the tune of 50 euros: a measure that goes poorly for doctors and physiotherapists. “We are told that there is no more money in the coffers”, however, underlines Stéphane Beulay, vice-president of the French Federation of Physiotherapists. A specific fund dedicated to health and social action for low-income patients has enabled this care, which also happens in other departments. Each fund has a budget of one million euros each year for vulnerable patients. Faced with the controversy, the system was suspended.
