The "Sécu" also offers guidance on this and other related topics in English here.  

Have You Got Your MT?

Médecin traitant, that is or, in the official English version of the Ministry of Health, your “primary care physician”. At the beginning of this year one- quarter of our fellow residents of the Alpes-Maritimes (the figure’s similar in the Var) had not yet signed up with a medic as prescribed by the new regulations. A brief reminder: to cut back on expensive but useless shopping around among medical specialists, those insured by la Sécu are urged to register with a médecin traitant of their choice and then will normally only visit a specialist on his recommendation. 

Such registration isn’t compulsory – but those who don’t sign up will be penalised. A couple of examples (we’re talking about doctors who areconventionnés and charge officially approved fees); if you go to a general practitioner who isn’t your médecin traitant, you’re already going to be disadvantaged: la Sécu will pay only €11 of his fee, your complementary insurer a maximum top up of €6; if you consult your MT you’ll normally get the whole fee reimbursed. When you go to a specialist on his advice la Sécu and your complementary insurance will usually cover the fee. If you’re not registered with an MT you’ll get back a maximum of €21.50. At the moment gynaecologists and ophthalmologists are excluded from this system.

The basic motivation for this law has been to save money for the social security system, notoriously in chronic deficit. As Jean-Jacques Greffeuille, head of the CPAM in the Alpes-Maritimes, has put it, “Your general practitioner can easily deal with most ailments ... going to a specialist should be the exception.” My colleague Dr Walt Ambruster tells me the system has obvious advantages for the patient: “It’s a good thing that one doctor should have general oversight of a person’s health. He’s well placed to advise on issues like diet and other aspects of lifestyle; more specifically, he can keep an eye on what medicines are being taken and that’s important. Around 15,000 people died in France last year as a result of badly monitored multiple medication.”

The registration form for signing on with amédecin traitant can be picked up at any office of the Caisse primaire d’assurance maladie or downloaded.

From Reporter 114 - Apr/May 2006

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