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Rapport (Rapport De Recherche) Année : 2024

Can people afford to pay for health care? New evidence on financial protection in France

Résumé

This review is part of a series of country-based studies generating new evidence on financial protection – affordable access to health care – in health systems in Europe. Catastrophic health spending is lower in France than in many other European Union (EU) countries, but unmet need for dental care is above the EU average and both outcomes are marked by significant income inequality. Catastrophic health spending is heavily concentrated in the poorest fifth of households and mainly driven by out-of-pocket payments for outpatient medicines, medical products and outpatient care. This is likely to reflect widespread, heavy and complex user charges (co-payments) for publicly financed health care, including substantial balance billing for medical products and outpatient care. Complementary health insurance (CHI) covering user charges covers around 95% of the population and improves financial protection for most people due to sustained Government efforts to secure free or subsidized access to CHI for people with very low incomes. However, CHI does not fully address the problems caused by user charges households with the lowest incomes are the least likely to have any form of CHI and CHI is a highly regressive way of financing the health system. It also involves significant transaction and financial costs for the Government and employers. Since 2019 the Government has taken steps to reduce balance billing for medical products. Building on this, the Government can use public resources more efficiently by reducing user charges and limiting the health system’s reliance on CHI – for example, exempting households with low incomes and people with chronic conditions from all co-payments; introducing an income-based cap on all co-payments; further limiting balance billing; and reducing the regressivity of CHI.
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Dates et versions

hal-04603206 , version 1 (06-06-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04603206 , version 1

Citer

Damien Bricard. Can people afford to pay for health care? New evidence on financial protection in France. [Research Report] WHO. 2024, pp.75. ⟨hal-04603206⟩
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