The French government's bill to reform social and health protection legislation has had its first reading in the Senate and is being examined in detail in the National Assembly. The draft law reinforces the administration in its restructuring of the hospitals, introduces the planned medical dossier system (which will be obligatory for all insured people) and sets up a public body to manage the transplantation of tissues and organs.
The text of the bill indicates the clear aim of Social Affairs Minister Simone Veil to claw back power to the state, which has been lost in some areas of the health service. The hospital sector, which will account for at least 270 billion French francs ($45.75 billion) of expenditure in 1993, demonstrates the loss of control by the government.
The government has been able to impose budgetary control on the hospitals, but has not been able to introduce basic structural reforms over the past decade. French Premier Edouard Balladur said a few days ago that it was "time to quit the sort of immobility that condemns the hospital system to ineffectiveness and to financial crisis." The draft law envisages the administration being able to get rid of beds or close units where there is inadequate utilization of resources.
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