in Marseille, taxi drivers demonstrate against the obligation of health carpooling

Hundreds of professionals carried out a snail operation on Monday to protest against article 30 of the social security financing law which plans to make health carpooling compulsory.

Taxi drivers are slowing down this Monday, December 11. They are protesting throughout France against article 30 of the social security financing law, which provides for compulsory health carpooling. A patient will no longer be able to have their journey fully reimbursed by social security if they take a taxi alone to go to the hospital or to a medical appointment.

The government thus wishes to favor shared transport, ensuring that it has made it possible to reduce health insurance expenditure by 34 million euros in 2022.

In Marseille, hundreds of drivers have mobilized: they denounce an “Uberization” of medical transport. In a concert of horns towards the prefecture, they do not take exception to the carpooling imposed for the transport of sick customers, and confide that they fear a reduction in the price of the trip: “There is talk of being paid for a trip, but carrying three people”explains Eric, a taxi driver for 20 years in Ventabren, near Marseille.

However, medical transport represents 80% of its activity. “We are not against sharing our cars. We are entirely aware that ecology must be taken into account, that the economy for Social Security must be considered, but here, to divide our income by three without having any say, we don’t completely agree!”, he protests. Éric also thinks of customers, sick people who risk waiting long hours for their taxi if the sharing of rides is systematic and managed by a single platform: “Places like hospitals where everyone has their own consultation, treatment or paper to collect, it’s going to be super complicated! Patients are not packages…”

Next to him Medhi agrees, he is a taxi driver in Marseille: “These are people who need to be very careful, people who are often in poor health… Making them wait for hours and hours to combine shopping is unacceptable.”