Doubling of medical deductibles: the Health Insurance Council decides against it, but...

The Health Insurance Council, a kind of parliament within the institution, issued an advisory opinion Thursday against the doubling of medical deductibles. The Bayrou government intends to implement this doubling by decree to curb the growth in health insurance spending.

The completion of this formal step leaves the government with the opportunity to publish its decrees, despite opposition from unions and patient associations, which denounce a measure affecting the most vulnerable people. Representatives of employee unions voted against the measure, supported by representatives of institutions such as the Mutualité and the National Union of Family Associations, the council said.

The employers' organizations voted in favor, except for the U2P (artisans) which abstained.

The government's draft decrees provide, from January 1, 2026, for doubling to 100 euros per year the maximum amount that a user can pay in medical excess as well as the remaining unreimbursed charge on boxes of medication , medical consultations, paramedical acts or medical transport.

Each unit deductible would also be doubled: within the annual ceilings, the insured person would have to pay out of pocket 2 euros per box of medication or paramedical procedure (1 euro today), between 4 and 5 euros per procedure or consultation with a doctor (2 to 3 euros today), or 8 euros per medical transport (4 euros today). Beneficiaries of the complementary health solidarity, the AME, minors, or holders of a disability pension are exempt from paying these deductibles.

The unions and the chairman of the Health Insurance Council had unsuccessfully asked the government to postpone the council vote, particularly given the risk of the government falling next Monday.

"I solemnly call on the Prime Minister to renounce this decree. We cannot at the same time say: 'I submit to a vote of confidence' and at the same time, push ahead at a forced pace and want to force through the measures in his budget discreetly and surreptitiously by decree, it is shameful," Sophie Binet, the general secretary of the CGT union, denounced on Tuesday.

The National Health Insurance Fund's board has 35 members, including 26 representatives of employee unions and employer organizations, and representatives of institutions involved in the field of health insurance. Its opinion on draft decrees is advisory, but the government is required to seek its advice before publishing its texts.