The French government has decided to keep hospital tariffs at 2025 levels for 2026, with no increase despite inflation and strains on human resources. Hospital federations, both public and private, denounce this as a disguised massive savings plan and call for at least a 1% rise. This comes after Parliament adopted a hospital budget boosted by 850 million euros.
France's hospital budget for 2026 was adopted by Parliament on December 16, following the addition of 850 million euros to the social security financing bill (PLFSS), which was initially seen as harsh. Hospital facilities had welcomed this as a much-needed boost. Yet, the announcement of hospital tariffs – the amounts reimbursed by the national health insurance for each type of stay under the activity-based payment system – quickly drew criticism.
These tariffs will remain unchanged from 2025 levels, with no increase. In a joint statement on December 23, the four main hospital federations – the French Hospital Federation, the Private Hospital Federation, Unicancer, and the Federation of Private Non-Profit Hospital and Care Facilities – voiced their concerns. "Setting tariffs at 0%, in a context of historic underfunding from inflation, activity recovery, and major human resource tensions, amounts to imposing a massive savings plan without admitting it," they stated.
The federations argue that this tariff stability effectively imposes implicit budget cuts, worsening challenges for public and private hospitals amid rising costs. They urge a review for at least a 1% increase to safeguard care quality and ease pressures on staff.
