In France, the poorest people have the pooest health and access to health care, new French study shows.
April 16, 2008
High health care costs in France compel many low-income households to stop seeking medical treatment altogether.
More than one person in seven in France avoids seeing a doctor for purely financial reasons, according to a French study released Tuesday by the Institute of Research and Documentation in Economy of Health (Irdes). The French study surveyed almost 20,000 people, and showed that households in France with the lowest incomes abandon seeking medical treatment because of health-care costs. 14% of insured people neglected to seek medical care for economic reasons over the last twelve months, and 22% report having stopped seeing the doctor entirely. In French households with monthly incomes of less than 800 euros, the ratio climbs to 24%, while it is only 7.4% in French households with incomes over 1,867 euros per month.
The poorest people in France suffer from the worst health and, not surprisingly, also have the worst health insurance coverage. The frequent absence of complimentary health insurance, called a mutuel, is a determining factor. In France, Social Security pays for health care, but often does not cover the entire cost. A mutuel is an extra health insurance policy paid for by the insuree to pick up costs not covered by French Social Security, and coverage can be very expensive,especially for the unemployed.
7% of all insured people in France don’t have a mutuel, but fully a third of lower-income people in France are without one.
The most frequently abandoned health care treatments by poor people in France are dental care (63 % ), eyeglasses (25%) and consultations with specialists (16%), which are both the most expensive and most meagerly reimbursed by French Social Security. Low-income people in France must dedicate 10% of their income to health care, while the richest only allocate 3%.
The French study also reveals that the people most at risk in France are young people between 20 and 29 years of age and the elderly; and women in France, especially lower-income women, are considered to be in worse health overall than men.
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