Always free for the poor, one euro per day maximum for the oldest: the Minister of Health on Tuesday presented the "complementary health solidarity", which will replace from November 1 two under-used public aid (CMU-C and ACS ).
Twenty years after birth, complementary universal health coverage is changing its name and dimension. The CMU-C, created in 1999 for the poor, will indeed swallow the payment assistance of the complementary health (ACS), sort of "health check" set up in 2005 for those less disadvantaged, who live all likewise below the poverty line. Two devices that have benefited nearly 7.3 million people in 2018 (5.63 for CMU-C, 1.27 for ACS according to the CMU Fund), but are far from reaching all their audiences: the non-recourse is estimated between 34% and 45% for the CMU-C and between 41% and 59% for the ACS, according to the Drees.
Reduce the renunciation of care
Their merger, recorded in the budget of the Sécu voted end 2018, "aims to reduce the renunciation of care (...) precarious populations," then explained the government in its impact study. In practice, nothing will change for the insured of the current CMU-C: the future "complementary health solidarity" will remain free, with the same level of reimbursement, for a single person earning less than 746 euros per month, or a couple with child below 1.343 euros.
On the other hand, for the population eligible for the ACS (less than 1,007 euros for a single person, 1,813 euros for a couple with a child), this measure is presented as a "simplification": the guarantees will be aligned with those of the CMU-C , with a growing "financial participation" with age. It will cost the beneficiaries 8 euros per month up to 29 years, 14 euros between 30 and 49 years, 21 euros between 50 and 59 years, 25 euros between 60 and 69 years, and 30 euros from 70 years (except in Alsace-Moselle, where the sums will be divided by three), according to a decree published in June in the Official Journal.