French Health service Economies In 1993

Lower rates of French health care reimbursement which took effect in August 1993 under France's Veil plan yielded economies of almost 2 billion french francs ($368.5 million) last year, says the national health fund, the CNAM.

The plan explains the slight slowdown in overall health care spending growth, which rose 5.7% last year compared to 7.1% in 1992, says data from the accounts commission. However, while the CNAM confirms a tendency for spending to slow down, this does not apply to the drug sector as a whole, where spending went up 7.5% last year against 7.4% in 1992.

It says 1993's savings include 859 million francs ($160.2 million) on medical fees, 1.1 billion francs on prescriptions and 30 million francs on other spending. This calculation takes account only of the 5% drop in reimbursement of drugs and medical fees, and not the rise in hospital day-rates, but shows that without the Veil measures, reimbursement outside the hospital sector would have risen 5% in 1993 instead of 4.1%.