100% health insurance: Should we really do away with supplementary health insurance?
Beaudet, Thierry
100% health insurance: Should we really do away with supplementary health insurance? - 2020.
2
The way in which health coverage is organized in France is a result of the country’s history. Compulsory health insurance was created after the first mutual insurance companies, and the way in which these two components are linked when it comes to reimbursing health care expenses has constantly evolved. This linking is regularly questioned. In the face of changing health care needs and budgetary considerations for the government and for households, some people are advocating an extension of social security coverage, with arguments of efficiency and simplification. While these arguments seem seductive, this article seeks to analyze them from an economic, but also social and societal, point of view. This economic and financial evaluation will review the evolution of management costs, the actual data on the composition and variation of health expenditure, as well as the overall consequences on the national budget. For society, it is first and foremost the question of the acceptability of an “all-public” scenario that is posed for both users and health actors. Ultimately, we need to reflect on the safest way of achieving the objective pursued: generalized, equal, and sustainable access to quality health care. So, what conditions should be set to maintain and develop prevention and a health care offer throughout the country that is both innovative and controlled?
100% health insurance: Should we really do away with supplementary health insurance? - 2020.
2
The way in which health coverage is organized in France is a result of the country’s history. Compulsory health insurance was created after the first mutual insurance companies, and the way in which these two components are linked when it comes to reimbursing health care expenses has constantly evolved. This linking is regularly questioned. In the face of changing health care needs and budgetary considerations for the government and for households, some people are advocating an extension of social security coverage, with arguments of efficiency and simplification. While these arguments seem seductive, this article seeks to analyze them from an economic, but also social and societal, point of view. This economic and financial evaluation will review the evolution of management costs, the actual data on the composition and variation of health expenditure, as well as the overall consequences on the national budget. For society, it is first and foremost the question of the acceptability of an “all-public” scenario that is posed for both users and health actors. Ultimately, we need to reflect on the safest way of achieving the objective pursued: generalized, equal, and sustainable access to quality health care. So, what conditions should be set to maintain and develop prevention and a health care offer throughout the country that is both innovative and controlled?
Réseaux sociaux