Deemed insufficient, the envelope was lengthened. Wheelchairs will be fully reimbursed “before the end of 2024”, assured Thursday the ministers in charge of Health and Disability who claim to have a budgetary boost. “The commitment made by Emmanuel Macron to fully reimburse wheelchairs, electric and manual, will be kept before the end of 2024,” confirmed the Minister responsible for Disabled People Fadila Khattabi.
Promised by the Head of State during the national disability conference in April 2023, the reimbursement of wheelchairs has since been the subject of negotiations between the Department of Social Security (DSS), industrial manufacturers and distributors. The initial envelope dedicated to the measure was estimated at around 300 million euros, according to the ministry. However, it was considered insufficient to ensure full reimbursement for all chairs, manual or electric, standard or specific.
No outage for the user
“We asked the president to extend the initial envelope, which he accepted,” said Minister of Health Catherine Vautrin in an interview with the daily La Croix. The government refused to specify the amount of the budgetary boost so as not to whet the appetites of industrialists during the negotiations. The measure will be covered by health insurance and complementary health insurance, with no additional cost to the user.
Currently, the price of a manual chair can reach up to 10,000 euros, that of an electric one up to 50,000 euros. The project provided for a reimbursement base of 2,600 euros for a manual chair (compared to 600 euros today), and 18,000 euros for an electric one (compared to 5,200 euros). “These figures are no longer relevant. Today, everything is back on the table,” Ms. Khattabi told La Croix. “The average remaining charge so far was 900 euros. For 60,000 people, this exceeds 5,000 euros. This is not normal,” added the minister.
A second round of negotiations will begin in the coming days, and the government wants associations, such as Collectif Handicaps or APF France Handicap, “to have a more important place and to make proposals”, the ministry is told.
A million people need a wheelchair, the majority of them elderly, a number set to increase with aging.