Yasmina Kattou
08:00, November 07, 2022
In its campaign for energy savings, the government has demanded nearly 250 million euros in savings from analysis laboratories. An unacceptable request for the representatives of the sector, who will be received this Monday evening by the director of health insurance. The executive, he remains inflexible and believes that they have largely benefited from the health crisis.
It’s time to save money everywhere and medical analysis laboratories are no exception to the rule. While they have largely benefited from the health crisis according to the executive, the latter is asking them for nearly 250 million euros in savings. According to the government, laboratory margins have increased dramatically, from 18 to 26% thanks to Covid screening tests. But these benefits do not take into account the investments, in particular to meet the high demand during the crisis, explains Alain Le Meur, president of the Alliance for medical biology.
Risk of closing laboratories in medical deserts
“We invest around 10% of our turnover. Moreover, we demonstrated this during the Covid crisis: we had to buy machines, employ a lot more high-performance people. We had to train them. So we need a lot of investment”, explains the professional. Faced with the government’s request, deemed unacceptable, the analysis laboratories are threatening to go on strike.
If they accept to retrocede the profits earned thanks to the Covid acts for 2023, but refuse a reduction in the prices on all the exams in a permanent way. “If we lower the prices by 250 million euros, that would divide the net income of our companies by six and we will be forced to close laboratory sites and often in desert areas at the level of the public health offer”, alert Alain Le Meur.
If discussions with health insurance are unsuccessful, the 4,000 private laboratories in France will close from November 14.
Source: Europe1
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