Eight months after initial negotiations between the government and doctors’ unions, the question of practitioners’ remuneration is once again on the table.
Negotiations on consultation prices resume this Wednesday, November 15, in the afternoon, between representatives of Health Insurance and the six unions representing private doctors, namely MG France, the CSMF, the FMF and the UFML-S for generalists, and Avenir Spé-Le Bloc, CSMF, SML and UFML-S for specialists.
Although the rate of 30 euros per consultation demanded by certain unions was rejected by the Ministry of Health during the last negotiations in February, an increase of 1.50 euros was nevertheless adopted, bringing the rate to 26.50 euros. a consultation with a general practitioner. This new rate has been in place since November 1, while the 25 euro consultation has been in effect since 2017.
This increase did not satisfy the majority of liberal doctors’ unions, and even the State agreed that it could be re-discussed. The main objective of these salary increases is to increase the attractiveness of the profession in a context where medical deserts are spreading throughout the country. The liberal medicine professions are also struggling to recruit young doctors, hampered by the constraints they impose, particularly at the administrative level, workloads and schedules.
During the last negotiations, the increase in prices to 30 euros was proposed by some of the unions, while some asked for an increase to reach a consultation rate of 50 euros. An agreement on a pricing of 30 euros was considered by Health Insurance, but only against the doctors’ agreement to sign a “territorial commitment contract”, committing them to certain installation constraints, always within the idea of ??reducing medical desertification. This idea could be reconsidered in these new negotiations.
These new discussions therefore promise to be tense, as Aurélien Rousseau himself recognizes, the Minister of Health, who spoke on Sud Radio on Tuesday, November 14: “It’s going to be a discussion that will be long and difficult because if we increase the reimbursed rate, in return we need commitments from doctors.”