Aurélien Fleurot / Photo credit: Riccardo Milani / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 11:06 a.m., December 09, 2023
The Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, fears that the prices of complementary health insurance will explode. Increases of 8 to 10 percent are "unsustainable," he said. For their part, mutual insurance companies point to an increase of 1.4 billion euros in their expenses in 2024.Will healthcare spending cause the French to lose purchasing power in 2024? This is the fear of Aurélien Rousseau, the Minister of Health, who believes that the planned increases in mutual insurance companies of 8 to 10% are "not tenable", "not acceptable". According to him, this should not go beyond 4 to 5%. However, according to supplemental health insurance, these price increases are inevitable, and they are likely to be substantial. The Minister will receive representatives of the sector on Friday, December 15, and the discussions are expected to be lively.
Up to 15% increase?
Mutuals do not want to be a "budgetary adjustment variable" and according to them, limiting rate increases would not be sustainable. They estimate their additional expenditure for 1 at €4.2024 billion. Among the explanations, the reform of the 100% health system, the absence of out-of-pocket expenses has led to a sharp increase in reimbursement costs. "Consumption volumes have exploded for hearing aids, they have increased a lot for dental devices, and for optical products they have not decreased, contrary to the assumptions that had been made for the financing of this reform," says Samuel Bansard, president of Meilleurtaux Assurances.
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The mutual insurance companies also mention the cost of the transfer of dental expenses reimbursements decided by the State: about 500 million euros. 8 to 10% increase, "that's the low range", according to one specialist in the sector, and "it could even exceed 15%". This is a worrying situation since nearly 3 million French people have decided to do without health insurance, according to the services of the Ministry of the Economy.