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France’s 2026 Social Security Bill Moves Forward With Pension Reform Suspension and Higher Patient Costs

The Senate’s vow to reinstate the retirement overhaul sets up a likely confrontation in November.

Overview

  • Lawmakers in the National Assembly’s Social Affairs committee are working through about 1,700 amendments ahead of plenary debate starting 4 November and a vote targeted for 12 November.
  • An adopted change in committee would make apprentices pay more by removing social contribution reductions on apprentice wages.
  • The draft includes a suspension of the government’s pension reform negotiated with socialists, estimated to cost €100 million in 2026 and €1.4 billion in 2027, which the centre-right Senate says it will seek to undo.
  • The bill seeks to tighten sick-leave rules by capping city-prescribed leave at 15 days and the first hospital-prescribed leave at 30 days, while scrapping certain long-term derogations.
  • Patients would face higher out-of-pocket charges, with co‑payments doubling on medicines and paramedical acts to €2 and on sanitary transport to €8, and the consultation fee participation rising to €4; family allowance increases would shift from age 14 to 18.