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Stéphanie Rist, Minister of Health, Families, Autonomy and People with Disabilities, was the guest of 4 Vérités, Tuesday, November 4, to explain her action plan for emergencies in Caen, which no longer have enough doctors. She also clarified the government’s position on the parliamentary discussions of the Social Security budget, which open on Tuesday, November 4.
This text corresponds to the transcription of part of the interview above. Click on the video to watch the interview in full.
Gilles Bornstein: How many doctors will arrive and when?
Stephanie Rist: There will be around five doctors in the coming days. This is a subject that occupied me as soon as I arrived at my ministry with an alert from my services. We are very vigilant at the ministry regarding the situation of emergency services, particularly at the start of winter. There are 612 emergency services in our country. So the first thing I did was ask for a report to try to understand why the situation was as it is in Caen, then provide support to the teams, whom I want to salute, who work every day in these services. Provide support to teams to improve the situation.
But I saw that there were usually 40 interns, now there are 15. Five more doctors is good, but will that be enough to keep the department running normally?
The interns are students. They are there in addition to the doctors. They are there to learn. The conditions for learning were no longer respected, which is why there are no more interns. And for six months, there will be no interns. We need to provide support to the team in place to rebuild themselves and for the interns to be able to return afterwards.
Will Caen’s emergency rooms be able to operate normally?
The Caen emergency services will work. Then, we are also setting up access to care services, that is to say that when you call 15, you are offered appointments with the doctor if you do not need to go to the emergency room. And this is very important. Our fellow citizens must call 15 before going to the emergency room so that they can be directed to the place where they will be best cared for, and it is not necessarily the emergency room.
The Toulouse University Hospital has already restricted access to care for emergencies. Should we expect other hospital services to be in difficulty in the coming weeks?
I told you, we are very vigilant. The winter period is coming. For the moment, the situation in Caen is not a widespread problem. I don’t want it. There are measures that are put in place. And again, we have access to care services that allow people to call 15 to find out if they need to go to the emergency room or rather have an appointment with the doctor, if they need one.
The examination of the Social Security financing bill which begins this afternoon in the National Assembly? You will be on the bench of ministers, obviously. Yesterday, the Minister of Public Accounts announced on 8 p.m. on France 2 that the wealthiest would be asked to contribute 5 and a half billion euros. Will the entirety of this sum be used to reduce the cuts planned in the Social Security budget for socially insured people?
You are right to say that we look at the budget and the Social Security budget in the same package with the objective of achieving a deficit of less than 5% of GDP at the end of these budgets. Discussions are underway with parliamentarians. Our method in government is simple. It consists of supporting parliamentarians so that they can judge the overall balance of the budget. This is what my action is focused on.
You don’t answer me. The opposition wanted to increase taxes on the wealthiest so that the bill would be less painful for others. Can you confirm to us that these 5 billion euros taken from the most fortunate will reduce the pain, if I may say so, for those who are not so lucky?
Yes, that’s what I’m saying. If there is an overall balance, that will suit the government. There needs to be an overall balance of trajectory. We are not stuck on one measure or another. On Social Security, despite everything, as expenses increase, we will have to control them.
Expenditures must fall by 7 billion euros, are you maintaining this savings objective?
The objective is really to reduce the Social Security deficit. We must reach 17 billion next year, while we have a 23 billion Social Security deficit.
17 billion is the amount of deficit you want to reach. This year it was 23.
It’s important to explain why we want to reduce the Social Security deficit, it’s not just for fun, it’s really because we want to maintain social protection for the French. If we let the trajectory deviate, it has doubled in recent years, if it continues to double, at some point, there will no longer be social protection as we can currently have in our country.
The doubling of patient participation is what is planned in the Social Security budget to make things clear: 2 euros per box of medicines instead of one euro, 4 euros per consultation instead of 2 euros, all of which cannot exceed 200 euros per patient. This proposal was rejected in committee. Will you persevere and seek his recovery?
Parliament will decide, debate and vote. For my part, I maintain that this proposal makes sense. Because you should know, one in three French people do not pay their deductibles. The most fragile patients, minors, pregnant women do not pay their deductibles today and will not pay them tomorrow. I think a debate could be interesting about whether we need a few more people who don’t pay them. But people who can could participate and make this effort to reduce this Social Security deficit.
You know that this is a casus belli for the socialists.
There will be discussions. And once again, if the balance is maintained, I will not focus on particular measures. But this measure seems in any case interesting to debate.
The text by revising the public health code wishes to impose vaccination on residents and staff of EHPADs. You are awaiting the opinion of the High Authority of Health. But you, Minister of Health, are you in favor of such an obligation?
I would like to remind you that it is at this time that vulnerable people and those who wish can be vaccinated since the flu has not yet arrived, but it will arrive. So, the flu and Covid vaccine, at this time, it is important to remember. In the text, there is indeed an obligation to vaccinate if the authority, which is independent, the High Authority of Health, says that there is an interest in protecting the most vulnerable people, that caregivers be compulsorily vaccinated. Yes, it is in the text and yes, I will assume this obligation from the moment there is scientific interest.
Click on the video to watch the interview in full.
