Healthcare in France
Healthcare in France is managed by the French government. The government pays for a universal healthcare system. In French it is called protection universelle maladie (Puma). In 2000 the World Health Organization found that France provided the "best overall health care" in the world.[1]
The government runs the health insurance system, which is called the National Fund for Health Insurance. Peoples have to pay 5.25% of income from work, capital and winnings from gambling and at 3.95% on social security and pensions. People get 70% of most health care costs, and 100% for costly or long-term problems from it. Most people also have also private health insurance from not-for-profit groups called mutuelles. That pays for about 3.7% of hospital treatment and 21.9% of the cost of spectacles and prostheses, 18.6% of drugs and 35.9% of dental care.
People have a "Carte Vitale", a smart card with information about their health and their insurance.
General practitioners run their own small business but get their money from the insurance system. There are public hospitals - 62% of hospital beds, non-profit independent hospitals (which are linked to the public system) - 14%, and private for-profit hospitals - 24%. Most are in the French Hospital Federation.[2]
There is a serious shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas. Nearly 7 million people do not have a GP. In 2021 there were 318 doctors for 100,000 people, in 2012 there were 325. [3]
References[change | change source]
- ↑ "World Health Organization Assesses the World's Health Systems". www.who.int. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
- ↑ "Fédération Hospitalière de France (FHF)". www.fhf.fr. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
- ↑ "Too far, too old, too few: Europe is running out of doctors". POLITICO. 2022-11-21. Retrieved 2023-02-10.