In Agen, cloudy skies above the national congress of the French Mutualité

Starting Wednesday, the Agora d'Agen will host the national congress of the French Mutual Insurance Fund. Health Minister Catherine Vautrin is expected to attend amid tensions between mutual insurance companies and the government.

By 2025, 35 million people, or almost one in two French people (46%), will be members of a mutual insurance company as a supplementary health insurance (insurance or provident institution). It is an understatement to say that the debates that will take place starting Wednesday, June 18 at the Agora d'Agen, in Lot-et-Garonne, as part of the French Mutual Insurance Congress are anything but marginal, but rather of major importance. The future of the mutual insurance world in a health system whose funding is no longer guaranteed will be discussed at this meeting organized by the National Federation of French Mutual Insurance.

Bertrand Dupouy, president of the Mutualité française de Nouvelle-Aquitaine (3 million members), is at the forefront of this national event. "We are living in a time of uncertainty," he confirms. "The government is navigating much more than by sight. We are asking for clarity." Catherine Vautrin, the Minister of Health, who is on the agenda for Thursday's conference, is expected to address the issue.

Unless the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, plays the surprise guest and delivers a speech likely to reassure the mutualist world, disheartened since the government's announcement of a new tax on health insurance contracts. "In twenty years, the taxation of supplementary health insurance has increased eightfold. Today, in France, a soda or a hamburger is taxed less than a supplementary health insurance contract! We are the European champions: health insurance contracts are taxed at an average of 14%, while they are exempt in Germany, taxed at 0.15% in Spain and 2.5% in Italy," according to the French Mutual Insurance Fund.

Bertrand Dupouy also reiterates the contours of the mutualist model: "We are not seeking profitability, unlike insurance companies. Surpluses are immediately reinjected into the system. We also do not remunerate shareholders. So we have a need for balance. However, taxing us means taxing the member, since we would still be forced to pass the tax on to our contracts. This is not a good signal that the government is sending."

And Bertrand Dupouy sees this as yet another blow to mutual insurance companies: "Our business is focused on health, unlike insurance companies, which use supplementary insurance as loss leaders with the possibility of balancing the operation with other products. We don't have that option." As a result, mutual insurance companies are experiencing a downward trend in terms of membership numbers, and at the same time, consolidation in the sector, with numerous mergers, is rampant. "Ten years ago, there were 3,000 mutual insurance companies; today, there are just over 250."

Recalling its many other missions, including social action, prevention, and healthy aging, the Mutualité Française also considers territorial coverage an insurmountable virtue. "We are the emanations of the territory. The choice of Agen, the smallest city to host our conference so far, is not insignificant."