the government hopes for a budget extension in 2023

To help a “out of breath” system, the government will table an amendment to extend the hospital budget by 600 million euros in 2023.

Source AFP

Minister Delegate for Public Accounts Gabriel Attal announced on Monday that the government will table an amendment to the amending Social Security financing bill to increase the hospital budget by 600 million euros in 2023.
© AMAURY CORNU / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP

Published on 02/06/2023 at 09:07

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Lhe government will table an amendment to the Social Security amending financing bill to extend the hospital budget by 600 million euros in 2023, announced Monday, February 6, the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts Gabriel Attal. “I will propose an amendment on behalf of the government to increase the hospital budget by 600 million euros in 2023”, declared the minister on RTL, a few hours before the opening of the debates in the Assembly on this text. which houses the pension reform.

“The President of the Republic has announced strong measures for the hospital […] You know that, in particular for night work, there were increases for health personnel […] The President of the Republic announced that we were going to extend them, ”he added.

Faced with a system “out of breath” by the government’s own admission, with overwhelmed emergencies and a crying lack of staff, once morest the backdrop of a triple winter epidemic of Covid-19, influenza and bronchiolitis, Emmanuel Macron announced in early January a reorganization of the hospital and measures to facilitate access to care. He also announced the “exit of fee-for-service” in hospitals from the next Social Security budget. Measures rather well received in the hospital environment.

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“There are other measures that will support caregivers, in particular who work at night,” said Gabriel Attal on Monday. The kick-off of the debates on the Social Security amending financing bill will be given at 4 p.m. Monday, in a hemicycle which promises to be packed for this text which houses the flagship reform of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term: the postponement from 62 to 64 of the legal retirement age.

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“It’s a financial text on the Social Security budget, so there are other subjects that will be discussed,” said Gabriel Attal to explain the amendment to the hospital budget.

Asked regarding the financing of this measure, he specified that the public deficit target for the year 2023 remained at 5% of GDP and that the government had kept the “possibility, in particular on the hospital budget of ‘increase its commitment’ following the President’s announcements. “We had taken this into account in the forecasts we made,” said the minister.