"We've all been had": GPs on the front line in the face of the explosion in sick leave

"We're giving the impression that it's doctors who are increasing the public debt." In Puget-Ville, in the Var region, Loïc Danzel d'Aumont is fuming. Like many of his colleagues, this general practitioner has taken the recent government statements on health spending badly. The tone was set in mid-July by François Bayrou. Presenting his plan to clean up public finances , the Prime Minister said he was determined to "put an end to the spiral of sick leave." In his sights: the daily allowances paid by Health Insurance , which reached 17 billion euros in 2023, all reasons combined, according to Social Security. These remarks also point the finger at the responsibility of doctors. "We try to be careful about prescriptions, but we're being held responsible for a system that's beyond us ," protests Loïc Danzel. "We didn't create the debt."

However, the figures do not speak in favor of caregivers...