Bachelot law accelerates destruction of the French health system

[Hannah Bell]

The Sarkozy government’s health reform law, voted through by the senate on June 5, could deliver a deathblow to the French health system. It is a health model that for 20 years has seen successive reforms of health insurance, repeated cutbacks in medicine reimbursements and increases in medical deductibles. Its financing is undermined by the exonerations for company contributions to social charges, which stood at €42 billion euros this year, five times the health insurance deficit.

Known as the Bachelot law after Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot, but officially entitled Hospital, Patients, Health and Regions (HPST), its main aim is to reduce spending and allow development of the private sector.

Financing of hospitals based on their capacity to provide services, and maintaining this, whatever the immediate demand, is now being based on a “just-in-time” principle, where no slack is allowed. This involves financing according to medical services performed—a sort of piece-work system known as T2A. It was introduced to account for 10 percent of public hospital budgets in 2004 and to reach 50 percent in 2008. According to the new law, this should reach 100 percent for 2012.

This is a windfall for the private clinics. Not having any obligation to provide a public service, they can specialize in the most profitable areas, siphoning these areas of service from the public hospitals and leaving them to look after the chronically ill or otherwise costly patients. For example, 98 percent of AIDS cases are treated in the public sector.

Since the law was implemented, hospital deficits have soared...


http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/fran-j30.shtml

[billyoc]

1. Why do the call him "Sarko the American"?

:eyes:

[LeftishBrit]

2. Sarko the Thatcherite I'd say. It's what's been happening in the UK for 30 years

ETA: it's more 'undermining' than absolute 'destruction'. But sad; the French health system has been one of the best in the world. As once was the British,

[checks-n-balances]

3. You got that right.

That's a sad thing for the British & French systems. Bad enough that we never got to experience what they've been having there.

Sarkozy was too cozy with Bush and that should've been a red flag to anyone with ears and eyes.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Not much point in blaming Thatcher indefinately

New Labour is wholly responsible for the past 12 years.

She did consider tax break for private medical insurance but from memory they never came about anyway. For the benefit of our cousins - UK private medical insurnace cannot be compared with similar in the USA : ours has a different purpose.

[LeftishBrit]

5. I blame Thatcherism, not just Thatcher herself. Blair was a Thatcherite in most ways.