Taxi drivers in some French cities are organizing demonstrations against the authorities’ new requirement to simultaneously transport multiple patients going to doctors and the special procedure for booking such trips, according to RMC radio, Report informs referring to TASS.
The taxi drivers plan to block roads and deliberately slow down traffic on intercity highways in Marseille, Toulouse, Lille, Bayonne, Lyon, Bordeaux and other cities.
In Marseille, 700 protesting drivers joined the rally and drove at reduced speed in the direction of the prefecture and the local social insurance office.
The reason for the protest was Article 30 of the new law on financing the social budget, according to which patients who want to reimburse part of the cost of a taxi trip to a doctor through insurance will have to book a car through private Internet platforms, which themselves will determine a suitable taxi fleet and offer to make a joint trip with other patients.
In this case, the passenger will be reimbursed a smaller amount for the trip if he or she refuses to travel in the same car with another patient in the absence of an appropriate certificate from the attending physician and the other passenger has symptoms that prevent them from being in the same car.
Currently, government insurance reimburses 55% of the cost of the trip.
The purpose of this measure, as follows from the bill, is to reduce budget expenses by “encouraging joint trips.”
According to the government, carpooling saved 34 million euros in travel costs in 2022. However, such trips accounted for only 15% of the total, which is why the authorities are trying to expand this practice.