France doubles annual medical franchise ceiling from €100 to €200, reviving a measure dropped in 2025

The announcement

Health Minister Stéphanie Rist told RMC on Thursday 23 July 2026 that the government will double the annual ceiling on medical franchises and flat-rate contributions. The cap, which has not changed in 20 years, will rise from €100 to €200 per patient. A decree is being prepared, and the minister suggested the change could take effect as early as this summer.

We are doubling this ceiling which has not evolved for 20 years.

The move revives a proposal that the Bayrou government considered in autumn 2025 but abandoned during budget debates. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had signalled the effort earlier in the week, telling Paris Match that the government would ask more of those who buy over 50 medicine boxes or visit a doctor more than 25 times a year.

How the system works

French patients already pay a €1 franchise on each medicine box or paramedical act, €4 per medical transport, and a €2 flat-rate contribution on every doctor consultation, radiology exam or lab test. These per-act amounts, which were doubled in 2024, will not change. What is changing is the annual cap: the €50 ceiling on franchises and the €50 ceiling on flat-rate contributions will each rise to €100, bringing the combined maximum out-of-pocket to €200.

Daily limits remain in place: €4 for paramedical acts, €8 for transport, and €8 for consultations and tests. The government argues the adjustment is needed to fund hospital investment, access to care and the most effective medicines. According to Les Echos, the measure would yield €750 million in annual savings for the Assurance maladie.

Who is affected

Rist stressed that 18 million people are exempt from these charges: minors, pregnant women from the sixth month, and beneficiaries of the Complémentaire santé solidaire (C2S), the means-tested top-up insurance. For a patient with a chronic illness, the average annual cost today is €78, the minister said. Under the new ceiling, she estimated that figure would rise to around €150 rather than the full €200.

If you are someone with a chronic illness, on average it is €78 per year currently paid by the insured, so if we double, we can estimate it will be closer to €150 than €200.

Reactions

Unions reacted sharply. Denis Gravouil of the CGT called the measure "the opposite of social justice" and linked it to a broader government push to cut €1 billion from social security spending in 2026. He said the union had expected "dirty tricks" over the summer.

We expected dirty tricks during the summer, it was implicit in the announcement of seeking a billion in cuts to the Sécu from 2026 made by the government in July.

What happens next

The government has not set a precise date for the decree, but Rist indicated it could be enacted quickly. The measure does not require a parliamentary vote, which allows the executive to bypass the legislative hurdles that blocked it in 2025. The political sensitivity remains high, however, and further union and patient-group pushback is likely once the decree is published.