Question 11608 — health

Summary

Mr. Laurent Alexandre alerts the Minister of Health, Families, Autonomy and Disabled People to the partial dereimbursement of thermal cures planned by the Government. A draft decree aimed at massively dereimbursing prescribed spa treatments has been made public. This corresponds to the roadmap set by the Government in the social security financing bill (PLFSS) for 2026, where it announced that "measures to refocus health insurance coverage on the most efficient care (0.3 billion euros) were necessary: ​​thus, the rate of coverage for thermal cures will be reduced." Hydrotherapy is, however, an effective medicine. Each year, it allows 500,000 patients suffering from chronic diseases to find lasting relief, reducing pain, improving quality of life and limiting the use of medications and hospitalizations. These are not comfort cures. It is a medicine prescribed by a healthcare professional, supervised by rigorous therapeutic protocols and carried out in approved establishments. A prevention tool, it delays the progression of illnesses, avoids costly treatments and limits hospitalizations. It is based on around sixty clinical studies and is strictly supervised by health insurance, which recognizes its therapeutic legitimacy. The deputies also reaffirmed their support for thermal cures by massively rejecting an amendment which called them into question during the examination of the PLFSS 2026. The dereimbursement desired by the Government would penalize the most vulnerable in particular. This would increase their renunciation of care, the reimbursement of which would drop from 100 to 65% for patients in ALD and from 65 to 15% for all others. The rest will therefore be the responsibility of the insured. Likewise, such a measure would call into question the very existence of thermal medicine, undermining the socio-health and economic balance of rural areas. 70% of the stations are located in municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, ensuring a medical presence, intensifying the fight against medical deserts and revitalizing the territories. THE thermal establishments represent 4.8 billion euros in annual economic benefits as well as 25,000 direct and indirect jobs. Finally, the current cost for health insurance remains marginal, representing 0.1% of national health expenditure, for a large contribution to public health. Such a dereimbursement would be counterproductive in that it would ultimately increase the social security bill. The expected saving of 200 million euros would be marginal and quickly canceled out by the costs of replacement care. In addition, the State would deprive itself of significant tax revenues, particularly in terms of VAT and social security contributions. The MP believes that the health of the French cannot be put in the second place under the pretext of making savings, which would certainly not be there in the long term and which will in reality be a source of additional difficulties for the most vulnerable people, for the economy of thermal territories and for social security itself. He therefore wishes to know the Government's intentions in terms of dereimbursement of thermal treatments. He also asks him if he actually plans to reduce access to care for people with long-term illnesses through regulations.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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