Les Rendez-vous de l'Eco: "Healthcare expenditure: how to maintain solidarity-based financing?"

Rising healthcare costs pose major challenges for the sustainability of the social protection model and for fair access to care. In France, the financing of healthcare expenditure is based on a high degree of complementarity between the health insurance system and complementary organizations, which limits out-of-pocket expenses for policyholders compared to other countries. However, this system leaves households with little or no supplementary coverage exposed to potentially high healthcare costs.

The weakening of health insurance revenues tends to increase these challenges, shifting the burden to complementary health insurance providers and households. The conference will explore possible levers for preserving access to healthcare without sacrificing solidarity.

Speakers

Denis Raynaud is Director of the Institut de Research et de Documentation en Economie de la Santé (IRDES). He is an economist specializing in health insurance and the regulation of healthcare systems, and has contributed to the work of the Haut Conseil pour l'Avenir de l'Assurance Maladie (HCAAM), the French High Council for the Future of Health Insurance, in proposing scenarios for changing the relationship between social security and supplementary health insurance.

Didier Balsan is Chief of Staff to the Chairman of Mutuelle Familiale. An economist specializing in social protection and health insurance, he has also held several positions at the Fédération nationale de la Mutualité Française and the French Ministry of Health, at the Social Security Department (DSS) and the Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics Department (DREES).