Health: the remaining cost is too penalizing for the poorest, estimates the WHO

A small remaining burden on health expenses but terribly poorly distributed and burdensome for the most modest French people. This is the finding drawn up by a study by the World Health Organization (WHO) published this Tuesday, April 30. The French people's out-of-pocket healthcare costs are the lowest in Europe, at around 9%, according to the 2021 figure included in the WHO study.

But 2.1% of French people (around 800,000 people) suffered a so-called “catastrophic” out-of-pocket burden, that is to say severely reducing their disposable income after basic necessities, according to 2017 figures cited by the 'study. However, Slovenia, Ireland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Spain achieve an even lower percentage, notes the study.

The study also notes that 9% of the most disadvantaged households (households in the first consumption quintile) were hit by these “catastrophic” out-of-pocket expenses, like 10% of households whose head of household is unemployed, or 5% single parent households.

The report notes that France has since taken “important measures to strengthen the financial protection” of socially insured people, in particular with the 100% Health, put in place from 2018. But it could go further in favor of the poorest in particular by “fixing an annual ceiling” on out-of-pocket expenses “which depends on household income”, he suggests.

France could also decide that the employer's contribution to complementary health insurance is linked to the employee's income, so that this contribution “is much more generous” for the most modest people. Generally speaking, France would benefit from “limiting the dependence of the health system on complementary health coverage”, which is less egalitarian than Health Insurance coverage, the report indicates.