Will you soon be able to take sick leave without consulting your doctor ? The government is studying the question

It may soon be possible to declare yourself on sick leave. FREE MIDI ILLUSTRATION – FRANCK VALENTIN

The government wants to consider, with employers, a possible reform which would allow employees to self-declare their work stoppages of "very short duration" without going to the doctor. A measure that would “free up medical time”.

Will employees soon be able to take sick leave themselves without going to the doctor?? This is what the Court of Auditors recommends in a report published this Monday, May 13.

This measure, already implemented in several countries facing shortages of doctors, such as the United Kingdom or Quebec, aims to reduce office consultations per hour or territory French lack of general practitioners.

For short-term stops only

Concretely, medical certificates would be abolished to be replaced by a "self-declaration" on the part of the patient, which would help relieve overcrowded medical practices and reduce waiting times in consultation rooms.

The shutdowns concerned would only be of very short duration, as may be the case for small viruses or glitches not requiring special medical treatment.

Questioned Tuesday morning on TF1, the Minister for Health Frédéric Valletoux said he wanted " open (this subject) with employers". "We must, with employer networks, discuss the feasibility of this measure, which would make it possible to free up medical time", he said. "The question is indeed to see its supervision and ensure that it is not a new channel of abuse, it’s a balance to find, but in any case the measure deserves to be considered ;be discussed", insisted the minister.

Waiting period

For the Sages of rue de Cambon, this measure would imply the establishment "of other regulatory mechanisms" in companies, branches, or even at the national level, such as the establishment of a period of "deficiency of order public", that is to say one or two days of absence not compensated, neither by Health Insurance, nor by the employer .

Today, in France, the first three days of sick leave are not compensated by health insurance, but are covered by many companies.

In addition to saving medical time, the executive has been looking for savings avenues for several months, to try to control the strong growth in expenses linked to sick leave.

"Daily allowances (paid to social security holders on sick leave) increased by 7.7 % last year", Aurélien Rousseau, then Minister of Health, said in September 2023, indicating that the executive would work on various avenues in 2024, including that of & ;quot;waiting days", with a view to possible "measures in 2025" .