Europe 1 with AFP 7:41 a.m., January 29, 2024
After the farmers, several hundred taxis from Nouvelle-Aquitaine gathered on Monday to in turn block the Bordeaux ring road, a nerve center between Paris and Spain, as part of a national mobilization to renegotiate the transport of patients with the 'Health Insurance.
After the farmers, several hundred taxis from Nouvelle-Aquitaine gathered on Monday to in turn block the Bordeaux ring road, a nerve center between Paris and Spain, as part of a national mobilization to renegotiate the transport of patients with the 'Health Insurance. Blocked from Wednesday to last Friday by several hundred angry farmers, the ring road which surrounds Bordeaux is this time targeted by a snail operation from 6:30 a.m., with 500 to 800 taxis expected according to the Bordeaux Métropole and City Taxi Union. Gironde (STBMG). The prefecture confirms to expect “several hundred” taxis.
The prefecture calls on users to “favor teleworking”
Other similar actions have been announced elsewhere in France, such as in Lyon or Marseille. At the call of four national organizations, the demonstrators are demanding a renegotiation of the conditions of remuneration for patient transport, while the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam) has put on the table an agreement deemed unfavorable by the unions, who demanded a status quo.
Taxis fear that the new conditions will force them to take additional discounts on their rates for medical transportation, while forcing them to carpool patients. “We will not give up, we will go all the way to get back on good foundations” with the Cnam, Éric Roulière-Laumonier, president of the STBMG, told AFP. At the end of their snail operation on Monday, the taxis planned to gather in front of the Gironde prefecture, in the center of Bordeaux. The prefect advised users of the ring road to “favor teleworking and limit travel” on Monday.
A major axis
The Bordeaux ring road, inevitable on the Paris-Spain motorway and regularly congested during rush hours, is used by 85,000 to 140,000 vehicles per day, including 6,000 to 18,000 heavy goods vehicles. Taxi demonstrations had already taken place throughout France on December 11 to protest against the new Social Security finance law, which pools the journeys of medical patients. Medical transport represented reimbursements of nearly 5.5 billion euros in 2022, and 65 million trips were made over the year for taxis and light medical vehicles (VSL) alone, according to the authors of the text of the law. Nearly 15% of journeys are already shared.
The idea is to reduce the cost of travel for Social Security by 100 million euros per year between 2025 and 2027, as well as pollution.