When doctors quit social security for not reassessing the cost of a consultation

His sign reads “unregistered doctor”. Like almost 1% of the 220,000 medical practitioners working in France, general practitioner Bruno Pallar has fled the social security system. That is, it is he who sets the scope of his consultation. It’s 55 euros, double the base price. “I plan on a 30 minute slot per patient, sometimes a little less and often a little more” he explains in the 8 o’clock news video at the top of this article.

Therefore, these days are much brighter than before. “In my previous office, I was the attending physician for almost 2,000 patients, which was very active. And today I have 300 or 400,” he clarifies. “He’s wasting time. Too bad if you have to pay, it doesn’t matter. We’re making concessions”, says one of his patients. Social security is involved, but it’s less than one euro.

As for mutual, they rarely refund more than 10 euros. The doctor, on the other hand, says he has found a decent rhythm of work. “I had health problems because physically I couldn’t hold on anymore. I worked 70 hours a week, it was hell. I had a paralyzing sciatica, I found myself at the bottom of a hospital bed and said to myself: “You have to stop talking nonsense,” he says. As for home visits, it is an hour or two days, rarely more. With a decrease in activity, Dr. Palyard earns the same as before, working less.

According to CPAM, a general practitioner earns on average €7,640 net per month, a cardiologist €13,797 per month, and a radiologist €18,030 per month. Bruno Palliard has the answer: “These are doctors who work more than ten hours a day, they are exhausted and at the limit of their strength. So that money won’t help them because they end up committing suicide or going into cardiac arrest.” he lets go.

After exiting the Social Security system, this practice divides doctors more than ever. There are those who are afraid of the two-tier system and those who are thinking about taking the plunge. At the beginning of March, the first Assises de déconventionnement was even held in Paris with a thousand participants. “We have seen doctors kill themselves, exhaust themselves and destroy themselves (…) This is what we will fight for, to find what has been stolen from us, because our pride, freedom and enjoyment of exercise have been stolen from us, we’ll take it back” says Dr. Jérôme Marty from the podium. A thinly veiled threat aimed at undermining the health of the French.

For example, in France there are 80,000 social security practitioners, 31,300 with overpaid and 796 of them without a contract. Like Dr. Antoine Rose, rheumatologist. For this medical specialist it is 60 euros per consultation. As a rule, even with good health insurance, patients pay 80 to 100% of the bill. For those who refuse “If he doesn’t want to pay me, he doesn’t pay me, but he leaves without a prescription and goes to a contract colleague. But contract colleagues, I’m not sure there are fewer than three appointments. months. Or when I’m in a bad mood, I say to make an appointment at the hospital, because it’s in a year”he jokes.

And add: “The problem is that we are not in two-level medicine, here we are in no medicine at all”he protests.

If the shortage of doctors increases, the long-term risk is that there will be no more choice and that doctors will have to go to doctors outside the welfare system. Gilles Calais, business owner at La Garenne Colombes, reveals in the TF1 newscast his approved GP schedule: first three days of the week only. Since Wednesday evening, therefore, it is better not to get sick. “You only have emergency cases left, so they are overwhelmed or so SOS Médecins, but which doctor will you go to? And yet we are in the Hauts-de-Seine, at the gates of Paris.”he wonders.

But the healing desert also applies to the capital. This popular area at the foot of Montmartre has even become a priority. For Agnès Gianotti, a general practitioner, leaving Social Security would mean breaking the model. “So, either I agree to treat only the rich, or I want an American-style system backed by mutual insurance companies, insurance companies and pension funds. In my opinion, this is a blessing for both patients and professionals.”she warns.

This doctor is angry not at colleagues tempted by adventure, but at the government. “We are running from the profession because we no longer support it. The emergency room crisis in the hospital, it’s the emergency room doctors who escaped, the pediatric crisis in the hospital, it’s because the pediatricians escaped. And if they kick GPs out, the system collapses.” continues Agnes Gianotti.

In his office, a consultation costs 25 euros, fully compensated. The beginning of the day, and there are already 14 people in the waiting room.