Catherine Vautrin said the government’s tracks for the 2026 budget on health. The Minister of Health wants companies to “take over” of compensation for judgments “over an additional period of deficiency, from the fourth to the seventh day”.
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A shock proposal that makes the unions scream … but also the bosses. Ten days after the presentation of the major government orientations to achieve 44 billion euros in savings in the 2026 budget, the Minister of Health, Catherine Vautrin, said her avenues to reduce health spending. In an interview with WorldSaturday, July 26, she notably mentioned the arrests-maladies which, according to the executive, are the subject of a “derivative” : 17 billion euros in expenditure per year, up sharply.
In particular, she mentioned the idea of doubling the deficiency period at the start of a judgment, during which health insurance does not pay compensation to the employee. “The question of transferring the management of stops, until the seventh day, to the employer, is under study and must be the subject of discussions with the social partnerssaid Catherine Vautrin.
“In this case, companies would be led to take over over this additional period of deficiency, from the fourth to the seventh day.”
Catherine Vautrin, Minister of HealthIn the daily “Le Monde”
Concretely, if you fall sick today, you are compensated by health insurance at the end of the fourth day-your business can be responsible for compensating for the lack of compensation. With new measures, compensation by health insurance could start only from the seventh day. The companies, they would then find themselves in charge of compensation between from the fourth to the sixth day, in terms which are not specified by Catherine Vautrin. In documents sent to the social partners, which must serve as a workplace, the government highlights a desire to “Strong empowerment of employees”.
“Work stoppages will not be covered for many employees, especially very small businesses, the unemployed, the precarious”Esimes to Franceinfo Denis Gravouil, member of the Confederate Bureau of the CGT. “The most precarious people will have to have additional deficiency days, not be compensated for shortens of less than a week”he added. With these new rules,“Everyone takes it for their rank, except the rich and the very large companies”estimates the trade unionist, believing that the government’s project “will increase inequalities”.
“It is the ease of unloading on businesses”Deplore Michel Picon President of the Union of Local Companies (U2P), on Franceinfo. “We are going to pay. It will once again worsen the cost of labor “he denounces. “It would be a real scandal, a real injusticegot carried away with Bfmtv Eric Chevée, vice-president of the Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (CPME) on Tuesday, when the track was not officially on the table, but already in the air. “Business leaders are completely helpless on this subject”he adds.
The CPME and the MEDEF plead for the establishment of one to three days of deficiency during which the employee in a standby stop is not compensated at all, neither by health insurance nor by his employer.
The modification of the days of deficiency constitutes “A transfer of expenditure on the private sector”tried Bfmtv Yohan Sannac, vice-president of the MG France doctors’ union. If private insurers must cover more expenses, on behalf of companies, they will increase their contributions, he fears.
Beyond the accounting aspect, the unions more broadly criticize the desire to tighten the use of-maladies, the government intended to “Limit very first work stoppage prescribed in city medicine to fifteen days”According to Catherine Vautrin. “Being sick is not a choice. We don’t get into a standstill because we want to do something else”Launched the number one in the CFDT, Marylise Léon Tuesday on BFMTV, before the government has officialized its project.
“Catherine Vautrin is expressed as if people were irresponsible”Cliff with franceinfo Denis Gravouil, from the CGT. “”With the aging of the population and the lengthening of working time, we know that some people will have more stops. ”
For him, the “Financial vision” of the government is a “Aberration in terms of public health”. “A person who has cancer, she does not necessarily spot him right away”continues the trade unionist. “This can start with migraines or significant fatigue, which generate short stops. If the doctor does not detect thanks to these short judgments the presence of a more serious illness, one can go very far in the degradation of the health state of health”he develops.
The CGT lets doubt doubt the fact of participating in negotiations between the social partners, because “They start on bases where there is nothing to gain, that things to lose”judge Denis Gravouil. The union center will decide to the end of August-start, and ensures that an inter-union mobilization is already organized for actions at the start of the school year.
