The Senate opposed this Monday the limitation on the duration of work stoppages, proposed by the government as part of the draft Social Security budget. The senators also wanted to prohibit any renewal of these judgments by telemedicine. Capping the duration of work stoppages “would mobilize several hundred thousand consultation hours in a context of already weakened access to care,” said Les Républicains senator Corinne Imbert, in favor of “freedom of prescription” for doctors.
The latter had an amendment adopted to the Social Security budget to oppose this cap. The government initially proposed a limitation which would be set by decree at 15 days for a first work stoppage prescribed by a town doctor, and 30 days in hospital. During the debates in the National Assembly, the deputies wanted to include this ceiling directly in the law, setting it at 30 days in both cases.
The Minister of Health opposed to this vote
The executive intends to legislate in the face of the increase in expenditure relating to work stoppages, which represents eleven billion euros in 2024, an increase of 6% per year for five years. The Minister of Health Stéphanie Rist regretted this choice of the Senate. “We can still say among ourselves that after a month, we can see the patient who is on sick leave again. “It doesn’t seem very shocking to ask the patient to come back for follow-up,” she said.
Limiting the duration of work stoppages “will only have the effect of increasing non-recourse and forced presenteeism”, for her part feared the ecologist Raymonde Poncet Monge. The senators also voted for another amendment to the Social Security budget to prohibit any renewal of a work stoppage pronounced via teleconsultation, despite the opposition of the government which deemed the measure unconstitutional. The law already provides for limiting any work stoppage prescribed by telemedicine to three days.
These votes are far from final because the debates on this Social Security budget will continue between the two houses of Parliament.