Liberal health professionals whose activity has collapsed due to confinement will indeed benefit from state aid, with the payment of a first deposit in early May, announced on Wednesday the Ministry of Health . These aids, paid by Health Insurance, will "guarantee that each contracted liberal health professional experiencing a drop in activity" can "meet their expenses," the ministry said in a statement.
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They will be paid in the form of a deposit "from the beginning of May", calculated on the basis of information provided by professionals, and will give rise to adjustments "once definitively known the losses of activity suffered", specifies he. The device, which will be defined via an order taken under the health emergency law, will be "accessible to more than 335,000 health professionals", said for its part Health Insurance.
"Coping with loads"
It "does not aim at an income guarantee objective, like a logic specific to employees" but at "guaranteeing each health professional the capacity to meet their expenses" to "allow them to resume their activity ", she added. According to the ministry, the aid will vary according to the professionals and the income received during confinement. They will also take into account any aid received by professionals under other schemes, such as partial unemployment.
The calculation of aid will be based both on "standardized elements" by health professions or specialties, such as the rate of fixed charges, and on "personalized elements", such as the usual level of fees, details Health Insurance .
In separate press releases, several unions of liberal doctors have deemed this system "insufficient", citing "inequity" in view of the support provided by the government "to public health establishments".
"The account is not there"
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The proposed aid "will only relate to charges". "Certainly this has the merit of existing, but the union of liberal doctors (SML) believes that the account is not there, and that in the end, this approach reflects a form of contempt of the public authorities towards liberal doctors" , assured the SML. "The account is not there", abounded the Confederation of French medical unions (CSMF), asking that the aid cover "all charges, without exception and without ceiling, so as not to penalize in particular specialists who face very heavy investments. "
According to Health Insurance, the implementation of containment measures has led to a drop in consultations of 40% for general practitioners and 50% for specialists, some, such as physiotherapists, having almost suspended their activity.