What changes for healthcare in France in 2025
Cold and flu medicine
In December, France's Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament (ANSM) banned several cold and flu treatments, including well-known brands such as Actifed, Dolirhume, Rhinadvil, or Humex, from over-the-counter purchase. In 2025, these will only be available in France with a doctor's prescription.
France's ANSM said that common cold treatments containing pseudoephedrine - such as decongestants or combined decongestants and painkillers in tablet or spray form - have rare but potentially serious side effects, including heart failure or stroke.
'Secure' prescriptions
Starting in March 2024, medications containing tramadol and codeine will require 'secure' prescriptions (ordonnance sécurisée).
The goal is to prevent risk of addiction, misuse and falsification of prescriptions. These types of prescriptions are intended to be forgery proof. They are already required for certain types of medication, such as opioids, psychotropic drugs, and narcotics, which can be dangerous and addictive if not taken with care.
New 3-in-1 test for flu, Covid and bronchiolitis
In November 2024, French pharmacies began selling a three-in-one home test kit for flu, Covid-19, or bronchiolitis. The 'All in Triplex' test (you can see it here) tests for influenza (la grippe), Covid-19 and bronchiolitis, a respiratory illness that primarily affects children under 2, as well as some elderly people.
It will be sold for about €10 per single unit box, with no prescription necessary, at pharmacies in 2025.
Emphasis on mental health
In 2025, the French ministry of health is set to make 'mental health' its primary focus, after having emphasised physical activity and sport in 2024.
The priority objectives are set to be; destigmatisation of mental health disorders, greater development for prevention and early detection, improving access to care throughout France, and greater mental health support in all aspects of life.
Mutuelle increases
Top-up health insurance plans - mutuelles - will likely increase in 2025, though exact amounts will depend on your individual plan. Most years, there are increases based on inflation, but other increases may depend on the final version of the 2025 budget.
According to estimates by Capital France in November, premiums could increase on average by 10.35 percent in 2025.
Reimbursement rates for doctor consultations
Starting on December 22nd 2024, medical visits will become more expensive in France. The standard price for a visit to a general practitioner will increase to €30 from €26.50.
Specialist appointments will also increase, with higher fees in paediatrics, psychiatry, gynaecology, dermatology, geriatrics, endocrinology, neurology and physical therapy. These changes will be phased in, so there will be increases in December 2024 and then again in July 2025. You can see the full details on the Ameli website here.
Paediatrics: The three obligatory examinations for babies (at the 8th day, 9th month and 24th month), which were previously set at €47.50 will increase to €54, and later to €60 in July 2025. Other mandatory exams for children under two will increase to €45 in December and later to €50 in July 2025, compared to €38.50 previously.
As for routine consults, these will also go up depending on the age of the child. For kids under two, these will go from €38.50 to €39 from December, and rise up to €40 starting in July 2025.
For children from two to six years old, both mandatory and follow-up consults will cost €35 (up from €31.50). For children over six, consults will cost €31.50 from December.
Psychiatry: The consultation fee for private psychiatrists will go up from €51.70 to €55 in December and later €57 in July 2025. Child psychiatry consultations currently cost €54.70. They will increase to €67 in December, and then to €75 by July 2025.
Gynaecology: Consultations currently cost €33.50, and they will increase to €37 in December, and up to €40 in July 2025.
Dermatology: Appointments for melanoma screenings, these fees will go up to €54 from €47.50. In July, they will cost €60.
Geriatrics: Consults will go up from €31.50 to €37 in December 2024, and then to €42 in July 2025.
Endocrinology: 'Complex' consultations will go up to €58 in December and then to €62 in July. They currently cost €53.50.
Neurology: Consultation fees will rise to €55 in December and then up to €57 in July. This is compared to a current price of €51.70.
Physical therapy: Appointments with specialists in physical and rehabilitation medicine will cost €36 from December 2024 and later €40 in July 2025. They currently cost €31.50.
Medical checks for children
There are already 20 mandatory medical checks that children in France must undergo during their life, most of them in the few weeks after birth.
In 2025 this system will change slightly with an extra check for children aged between six and seven. The overall format of the check-ups will remain the same, but for older children doctors will also be expected to add checks for depression and anxiety.
Here's how it all works.
Changes dependent on the budget
After France's prime minister was toppled in a no-confidence vote in December, the budget and social security funding proposals for 2025 were also scrapped.
In the short term, the 2024 budget will rollover to 2025, but later a new budget will be proposed. It remains to be seen whether this will include any measures from Michel Barnier's budget, but here is what he proposed in relation to healthcare;
Reimbursement rates - One proposed change, which was scrapped when the government fell, was altering the state reimbursement rate for a standard doctor or midwife appointment. The Barnier government sought to decrease the government reimbursement portion from 70 percent to 60 percent - therefore on an appointment costing €30, only €18 would be reimbursed by the government.
For those who have a mutuelle, the remaining cost will be covered by the mutuelle, leaving no out of pocket costs - however this would likely result in a rise in the cost of premiums for a mutuelle.
Patient transport - The Barnier government also sought to push taxi drivers and patient transport providers to negotiate with French social security authorities, potentially leading to fare changes, which led to taxi protests. However, this was also dropped when Barnier was voted out.
Sick leave - The Barnier government was considering reducing the daily allowances received in the event of sick leave. Health Insurance would still reimburse sick leave up to 50 percent of the daily salary, but within the limit of a maximum of 1.4 times the minimum wage, compared to 1.8 today. This was also scrapped.
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