World News: The French Government Targets Healthcare Fraud

Details
Category: Haute This Issue
Published on Monday, 01 April 2024 12:06
Written by Olivier Longhi

The French Healthcare system, or the Assurance Maladie, is anxious to reduce work stoppage fraud, is launching a campaign to fight against unscrupulous employees who are led to take advantage of loopholes in the system.

If the latter remain intact, why not try to absorb them before making employees feel guilty about keeping their jobs?

Beltway Insider: Biden/Fairer Tax Codes, Bankman-Fried Sentenced, Baltimore Bridge, Joe Liberman, Trump Legal Drama

Popular in the 1970s, a decade marked by the first oil crisis of 1973-1974, the expression "waste hunting" has been given yet another lease of life in view of the Medicare government's desire to fight against work stoppage fraud. Incidentally, the expression has resonated many times, and will continue to resonate, in ministries as well as in households for more than fifty years.

But, this time, it is the work stoppages that are in the sights of the Ministry of Finance and Social Security. The objective is simple: to reduce the cost of the shutdowns in question as much as possible to work towards reducing the public deficit.

Set at ten billion euros this year by the Minister of Finance, Bruno Lemaire, the choice is therefore made to fall employees tempted to ask for a stop if by chance they present disorders likely to cause one. The idea, simple and already under consideration, is to increase the number of waiting days from three to seven, some calling it a health deterrent.

World News: European Elections Become a French Duel

Work that has Become Valuable

However, regardless of the ideas put forward, this or any other, it is clear that the State and the Government have opened a hunt for employees designated as guilty of being ill from time to time. However, what Social Security, a noble and venerable institution whose branches are not all in deficit, seems to forget is that, overall, no one wants to be sick or on leave for the simple reason that work, which has become precious and essential for the vast majority of employees, is still a priority.

Precisely, it would perhaps be interesting to turn the table upside down and ask ourselves about the number of people who go to work every day in pain (excluding long-term or incurable illnesses), preferring to avoid any stoppage because the latter have a cost and an immediate effect on the monthly salary. Of course, some will argue that there are sick leave professionals, just as there are a plethora of practitioners who distribute sick leave.

World News: Putin "Re-Election" A Crude Display of Tyranny in Action

Welfare State

But while thinking about ways to make substantial savings is commendable, tracking down workers is an easy fight that should perhaps be replaced by a deeper reflection on the nature and objectives of the welfare state without the welfare state stripping away those benefits who feed it through their current or past work. Taking as a starting postulate that medical care is reimbursed by Social Security, our system effectively confirms the possibility of fraud.

So, to fight against something, it is necessary to fight against the flaws of the system and not to engage in a disproportionate fight against employees who are more concerned with keeping their jobs than wallowing in the most relative and questionable luxury of the work stoppage and its financial consequences.

World News: Europe and Tocqueville

 

Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.

Haute News

Haute Tease

  • Celebrity Interview & Review: Pride Loyalty for a Lifetime and Part II with Director Matthew Warchus

    "Pride," from BBC Films, Pathe and CBS Films," a brilliant film that stands out in the sea of compelling stories, presents the peoples oppression as the joining force  between the  gays and miners in 1984's British Miner's Strike.

     

  • Capella Pedregal’s Culinary Team Leading A Renaissance Of Baja Cuisine In Cabo

    Traditional Baja cuisine has mostly been appreciated by locals and overlooked by critics and pedigreed chefs, however in recent years a dramatic shift has been taking place, as Cabo is fast becoming a rising hot bed of culinary ingenuity.  

     

  • Ad Astra Review – Innovative Space Program Film Delivers

    Ad Astra, from Plan B Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox, brings to the screen the story of intergalactic travel circa 2050 and an unprecedented cosmic interruption that sends extraordinary power surges with catastrophic results hurling toward earth.

     

  • Challenger: The Final Flight Review – Tragic, Informative, Emotional

    Challenger: The Final Flight, from Netflix, brings to the screen for the first time an insightful, informative, and investigative series on the causes behind the 1986 explosion, those who died and explores both human and mechanical failures.

     

  • La Potiche Européenne

    Le renforcement de l'aide accordée à l'Ukraine par les Etats-Unis condamne l'Union Européenne et les Européens à un rôle de faire-valoir. Ne pouvant rivaliser avec mes moyens nord-américains, ces derniers se bornent à engager contre la Russie des sanctions économiques aux effets pour l'instant incertains.  

  • Tensions sans fin au Proche-Orient

    Si désescalade est le maître-mot qui préside à la crise que traverse le Proche-Orient, il apparaît aussi que les Etats-Unis se sont lancés dans un exercice d'équilibriste risqué sans option de résolution rapide des tensions. Pourtant, ces dernières existent.