Bruno Le Maire mentioned several measures to straighten the public accounts, including the fight against so-called “comfort” sick leave. For Agnès Giannotti, the president of the MG France doctors’ union, it is “absolutely scandalous”.
“We have a real campaign of intimidation so that we no longer arrest people who need to be arrested“, declared this Monday, June 19 on franceinfo Agnès Giannotti, president of the union of doctors MG France, the first union among general practitioners. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, announced on Monday that at least 10 billion euros of savings had been identified to allow the recovery of the public accounts of France by 2027, in particular in health and work.
franceinfo: Do some doctors give too many sick leaves?
Agnes Giannotti: If the population is aging and has chronic illnesses it is because of the general practitioners, if there are management problems in companies it is because of the general practitioners, if the cashiers and the cleaning ladies no longer arrive to work because they have pain in their knees and shoulders, it is the fault of the general practitioners. Are these comfort stops? These are the patients that we stop. There, we have a real campaign of intimidation so that we no longer arrest people who need to be arrested. It is absolutely outrageous.
Why do we say that there are too many stops?
There are drifts in daily allowances, but very few among attending physicians, 1 to 2%, there are a lot of them on teleconsultation platforms. Who deregulated? It is the state. Who put the platforms in direct access on ‘my health space’? It is the state. Pointing to general practitioners is absolutely outrageous. Care needs are increasing, the population is aging, the retirement age is being pushed back, so a responsible politician anticipates these increasing expenses.
The Minister of Economy also mentioned health costs and talked about comfort. What do you think ?
The price of drugs is fixed between the State and the drug industries. We are not in the story. Comfort medications have been de-reimbursed. When you write a prescription, there is zero comfort medication. A painkiller is a comfort medicine, but you still have to suffer! What’s driving up spending isn’t that, it’s chronic disease and the aging population. But we have policies that have been incapable of anticipating both the healthcare needs of the population and the needs of healthcare personnel. There, we are in the wall because they voted for a financing of Social Security which is not up to inflation and which does not take into account the increase in needs. So the needs are not covered. Therefore, the reimbursement of dental care is reduced. We have health insurance that wants to save money on the backs of people who have little means, on the backs of the poor. It is unacceptable. The scapegoat is the attending physicians.
Will you accept additional checks?
We don’t want a target bet. We are going to ask that the medical advisers of the Social Security come to check each of our sick leaves and we will see if they find them complacent. But we also want them to do it for teleconsultation platforms. These doctors do not know the patients and it is an unorganized system of healthcare consumption.