one in four French people have already given up on healthcare for financial reasons, according to a study

37% of French people have already given up on medical care or equipment when they needed it, according to an Ifop survey for Crédit Mutuel revealed by France Inter on Thursday September 21. One in four French people (26%) have already given up on medical care or equipment for financial reasons in recent years and 17% even admit to having done so on several occasions.

The most disadvantaged first concerned

The majority of French people who have already given up on treatment (64%) have notably deprived themselves of a consultation with a specialist, such as the dentist (37%), the ophthalmologist (20%) or even the dermatologist (14%) . The most disadvantaged French people are the first to be affected by this situation, and in particular the beneficiaries of the Solidarity Health Supplement (formerly CMU) (49%), those with a monthly income of less than 900 euros (49%) and the inhabitants of rural communities. (43%).

Several reasons are put forward to explain these renunciations: the increase in the cost of living, the fact that mutual or complementary health insurance does not cover all of the costs and the fact that it is necessary to advance the price of the consultation are respectively mentioned. by 87%, 84% and 78% of French people who have already given up on healthcare. Some respondents also mention difficulties in obtaining appointments: 13% say they have not managed to obtain a consultation within a reasonable time, 7% say that there is no doctor near them.

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According to Ifop, treatment is increasingly expensive for 89% of French people. If two thirds of respondents consider it normal to increase the price of consultations with general practitioners and specialists, 83% consider that it is up to Social Security to take charge of this increase, and not to patients. A majority of French patients surveyed also say they are in favor of better treatment of alternative medicines and alternative medicines by private actors. For 79% of respondents, third-party payment should also work for alternative medicines.

Methodology : The Ifop survey was conducted by self-administered questionnaire among a sample of 1,000 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over between August 22 and 24, 2023. The representativeness of the sample was ensured by the quota method (sex, age, profession of the person interviewed) after stratification by region and category of agglomeration.