France aiming for €2.1bn health cuts

France is seeking to cut €2.1bn in health care costs next year by pushing drug prices lower, urging doctors to write fewer prescriptions, and spending less on hospitals as the government tries to rein in the social security deficit.

Price cuts on prescription medicines will save €530m, said health minister Marisol Touraine yesterday. Taxes to support the social security system will be raised by €3.4bn she said.

Social security in France is funded and run separately from the country’s general budget. The government last week announced a separate €20bn of tax hikes and €10bn of spending cuts for its 2013 budget to meet EU deficit targets.

The social security deficit will be €11.4bn next year, down from €13.3bn this year, she said. The system has run a €160bn deficit over the past decade.

Among the revenue increases announced are €250m a year of new tobacco taxes, €350m from an exceptional tax on pensions, and measures to impose social charges on local government legislators and independent workers.