“Do you commit to not reducing compensation for sick leave ?”: MP Rome challenges the Prime Minister

Sébastien Rome redoute de nouvelles économies de l'assurance maladie. Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

Lors de la séance de questions au gouvernement, l’élu insoumis de l’Hérault a questionné le chef du gouvernement sur le rapport de la Cour des comptes évoquant la piste de mettre fin aux indemnités pour les arrêts maladie de moins de huit jours pour réaliser des économies.

Are we heading towards the end of compensation for sick leave of less than eight days ? The idea was in any case mentioned by the Court of Auditors, which put figures in its 2024 report , some ideas for the economics of health insurance, including this one. This challenged the Insoumis deputy from Hérault Sébastien Rome, who took advantage of the question session with the government, to ask Gabriel Attal, in an offensive tone, his position on the subject.< /p>

"You rob the workers, it’s despicable"

"Mr Prime Minister, not a right was acquired under your government or the previous one. Retirement at 64, breakdown of unemployment insurance, attack on health insurance… hellip; You are stealing the money that workers contribute to social insurance to offer the richest billions in import reductions or to impose the austerity desired by Europe [’ hellip;] For you, the French are profiteers. Make the link with immigration and you will have the RN's program, he attacked, before getting to the heart of the matter. "Pierre Moscovici, who was minister of François Hollande like Emmanuel Macron, now proposes, in a report from the Court of Auditors (of which he is the first president , Editor’s note)to no longer compensate sick leave of less than eight days. Bruno Le Maire judged that this was not part of the government's options for 2024, but what is the value of the words of a minister drawing plans on the comet in two years, but incapable of predicting a budget in three months? . Not before the Europeans of course, but after ? When you stop for less than eight days, it means you have the flu or back pain. The State Council has affirmed that burnout is a work illness. Who thinks that stopping compensating sick leave will make the population healthy?? The truth is that a third of French people already come to work sick. So Mr. Prime Minister, do you make a solemn commitment, before the Nation, that neither in 2024, nor in 2025, nor ever, will you seek to limit health insurance expenses by reducing the ;rsquo;work stoppage compensation ?".

"Qui pense qu'arrêter d'indemniser les arrêts maladies fera une population en bonne santé ?"@SebRome (LFI-NUPES) demande au Gvt de s'engager à ne "jamais limiter les dépenses de l'Assurance maladie en réduisant l'indemnisation des arrêts de travail"#DirectAN #QAG pic.twitter.com/zdczHEED6n

— Assemblée nationale (@AssembleeNat) June 4, 2024

"The Court of Auditors is independent"

It was not the Prime Minister, but the Minister of Health Frédéric Valletoux, who responded to the Hérault elected official… under the eyes of Gabriel Attal. "First, a reminder of the functioning of our institutions, the Court of Auditors is a totally independent judicial institution. She takes up the subjects she wants and issues the opinions she wants. The government is free to take its conclusions into account or not. Do not conflate the conclusions of the Court of Auditors with possible secret projects of the government", began the minister, before mentioning "the subject of controlling public spending, including social security accounts. The government has already done a lot, the deficit has decreased by 9 billion euros between 2023 and 2023, but that is not enough. Social security spending will have to contribute to the effort to control the deficit, there is no taboo.

"No project around daily allowance"

But, assures Frédéric Valletoux, there is for the moment "no project around compensation  Daily. We will look at all the expenses that contribute to health insurance and also participate in the efficiency of the health system, with the objective of saving social security to give it muscle and hunt down abuses and strengthen the health system".

Questioned on France Inter on the same subject, Gabriel Attal had a similar response: "My priority is rather to fight against fraudulent sick leave, it’s very easy to obtain on the Internet and social networks".

However, at the end of the question session to the government, Sébastien Rome felt that the minister had "not honestly answered",&nbsp ;dreading that the subject will come up again in a few months.