For the first time in more than twenty years, Belgian doctors, general practitioners and specialists, are called upon to strike this Monday, July 7. In question: a draft law of the Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke, perceived as a threat to their autonomy, their pricing freedom and the viability of hospitals.
“It is a project that rests on three feet”, begins Jean-Pascal Labille, secretary general of Solidaris, in the 7:50 am of Bel RTL morning. “The remuneration of doctors, the financing of hospitals and the whole problem of the agreement and the fees. »»
When there are fees that reach 200 % at 300 %, there is a real problem
At the heart of the problem, the cap of fees supplements. This measure aims to limit the additional amounts that doctors can charge in addition to official prices. The Minister presents this cap as a means of improving the financial accessibility of care for patients. “I can understand that a doctor can say that my remuneration is not sufficient, but we do not want it to be the patient who pays,” warns the secretary general of Solidaris. He believes that “when there are fees supplements that reach 200 % at 300 %, there is a real problem”.
Abuse situations are not necessarily generalized, according to Jean-Pascal Labille, but situations exist above all “in certain disciplines”.
The ceiling system could avoid two -speed medicine for the rich and the poor, this is in any case what is advanced by the government. This is a point of view shared by our guest: “Yes, the system to allow the doctor to converse or not, it must be safeguarded, and to ensure a sufficient offer of agreed doctors for people to be able to treat themselves, and particularly those who are in financial difficulty”.
Federal Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) would like to set up the reform in July, far too early for Jean-Pascal Labille: “If we want to favor a real positive path, it takes time to let social concertation take place,” he said.
Savings search
The other component of this reform is savings in the health care sector. The federal government wants to make almost 1 billion saving over the next two years: “We are looking for these economies, there are sectors that benefit from pockets of profitability that are excessive, I think of the pharmaceutical sector. There are solutions to find, ”he continues.
“I support the reform that Minister Vandenbroucke is launching on the weight of medical acts, on the refinancing of hospitals, limitation of fees and the agreement. It is a reform that has good, that makes sense, but it is necessary to leave time to be built, or, here, we are in a form of precipitation. If we let the doctors and mutualities arrive with solutions, we will get there, “he concludes.
