Emmanuel Macron had made this promise on March 16 on the sidelines of the confinement announcement. " I have decided that as of tomorrow taxis and hotels could be mobilized for the benefit of nursing staff ," declared the President of the Republic. The state will pay. In fact, in a few days, 20,000 hotel rooms were made available to this public.
Mobilizing taxis proved to be more laborious. " We agreed to do so, without understanding why the case was not progressing ," said Didier Hogrel, president of the FNDT (National Taxi Federation). Finally, the device is finally applicable since Monday. Please note, contrary to the presidential promise, not all carers will benefit from free taxis to go to work or go home. For the moment, nothing is planned, for example, for doctors or physiotherapists.
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Regarding caregivers working in structures, it is their employer (hospital or nursing home) who will choose the personnel deserving this kind of service: for example " those who work in structures far from their home ", explains the Ministry of Health in its press release.
The races will be paid by the hospital or nursing home which will be reimbursed by the primary health insurance fund. Taxis will charge the rates applied to the transportation of patients, which are 10 to 15% lower, depending on the department, than conventional passenger transportation. And it is likely that they will be paid with a one month lag. How many daily errands could be completed? At what overall cost for Medicare? The health ministry did not know this on Monday. As for taxis, they were surprised that the VTC can participate in the operation in a complementary way in dense urban areas, while Emmanuel Macron had not mentioned it.