Overview
- Deputies approved the measure in first reading, allowing doctors to exceed the ceilings when they justify the medical need on the prescription.
- A socialist amendment put the time limits into law and set one month for first prescriptions in all settings, replacing the government’s initial plan to define shorter caps by decree.
- Health Minister Stéphanie Rist cited about €11 billion in annual outlays for daily sickness benefits and roughly 6% yearly growth over five years to defend the change.
- An annexed Social Security report projects more medical visits under the cap, a prospect criticized by medical unions and left-wing MPs who warn of heavier workloads and access hurdles in under-served areas.
- The Assembly also scrapped a proposed cut to indemnity ceilings for certain non-exempt long‑term conditions and dropped a plan to limit doctors’ fee overcharges, as the bill now heads to the Senate with implementation details still to be defined.