Social Security Budget: The Senate opposes several taxes, particularly on mutual insurance companies

The Senate is far from being convinced by several proposals for the 2027 Social Security budget. Elected officials have shown their disagreement with several taxes, including a contribution requested from mutual societies, expected to bring in more than a billion euros for Health Insurance. Dominated by an alliance between the right and the centrists wary of tax measures, the upper house has displayed its disagreements with the government on the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS).

“Indirect tax” on consumers Main senatorial decision, the almost unanimous refusal of an exceptional contribution on complementary health insurance, set at 2.05%. Established last year, it was supposed to be ephemeral but the government wants to renew it to recover 1.1 billion euros. “The continued increase in mutual insurance prices would particularly penalize the purchasing power of the French,” denounced Senator Serge Bérard (Nouvelle Energie), criticizing like most of his colleagues an “indirect tax” probably passed on by mutual insurance companies to their members.

Anxious to preserve the Social Security deficit, the senators assure that they will be able to compensate for this lost billion by proposing a transfer of costs from Health Insurance to mutual insurance companies, in particular on prevention expenses. But the Minister of Health, Stéphanie Rist, affirmed that it would be impossible to obtain such a “return”, defending the tax as a measure of “budgetary seriousness”.

Machine-translated from French