Despite a call from the Alliance for Medical Biology (ABM) on the 14th October for the Government to reconsider Article 27 of the Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS) 2023, the Article remains in place. Therefore, from October 27th the AMB has decided to go on strike until further notice. This decision taken by the alliance will see them withdraw from the national Covid screening test file (SI-Dep), meaning the labs will no longer transmit Covid screening data on the platform.
The Article outlined in the PLFSS requires laboratories to lower the prices of their routine examinations which the Government believe could lead to €250 million in savings per year between 2023 and 2026. The Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, justified this measure stating laboratories had seen an increase of more than €7 billion in turnover since the COVID-19 pandemic and testing requirements for Covid1. In response, the ABM highlighted the “exceptional contribution centred on their exceptional overactivity due to Covid”. There runs a risk, according to the president of the ABM, Alain Le Meur, that there will be no more possible follow-up of the epidemic. Laboratories will be longer be reimbursed by Medicare, which the French press warns could result in a loss of earnings estimated at €14 million per week2.
Sources:
- https://www.egora.fr/actus-pro/economie/77202-opposes-au-plfss-2023-les-biologistes-vont-suspendre-l-alimentation-du
- https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2022/10/26/budget-de-la-secu-les-laboratoires-d-analyse-menacent-de-cesser-la-transmission-des-donnees-des-tests-de-depistage-du-covid-19_6147347_3224.html