French Health Spending In 1994

French health spending rose 3.2% in 1994 to 414 billion French francs ($78.11 billion), against 5.7% in 1993, says leading health fund CNAM. Hospital spending rose 5.6% against 7.5% in 1993 and drug spending was up only 0.2%, against 5.6%.

These results are good but have not succeeded in cutting the health service budget deficit, now set to exceed Social Security Accounts Commission (unpublished) forecasts. The main reason for the deficit's rise, says CNAM director Gerard Rameix, is the drop in social security income as growth in salaries has slowed down.