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How to solve the problems of access to medical care between France and Switzerland?

October 2023

How to solve the problems of access to medical care between France and Switzerland?

At the "Salon du Frontalier", organized by the Groupement transfrontalier européen (GTE), a round-table discussion on access to medical care in border areas led to lively exchanges between elected representatives and experts from both sides of the Franco-Swiss border.

The debate, moderated by the Tribune de Genève, brought together around a hundred participants in La Roche-sur-Foron to discuss two crucial issues for this cross-border living area:

  • how can we guarantee fair, high-quality access to medical care for all border-area residents, regardless of their country, place of residence, or health insurance system?
  • how to develop local cooperation between border departments and the Canton of Geneva to optimize the use of medical infrastructures and offer innovative solutions adapted to a cross-border living environment?

All agreed that "the situation is worrying". Particularly in Pays de Gex, which has become a medical desert. "There is no real health policy in this region", lamented Gérard Paoli, vice-president of the Ain department, pointing out that "Pays de Gex has 130,000 inhabitants, 15% of whom have no access to healthcare".

For Pierre Maudet, Geneva's State Councillor for Health and Mobility, "the difficulties are not insurmountable, but they are solidly complicated". "While the shortage of nursing staff is widespread throughout Europe, due in particular to the retirement of baby-boomers, it is accentuated in the region by income disparities".

Read the article from the Tribune de Genève [FR]: https://www.tdg.ch/table-ronde-sur-le-grand-geneve-la-sante-transfrontaliere-peine-a-trouver-des-solutions-879490322871

Round-table participants: Pierre FENEYROL, Director of CPAM Haute Savoie; Olga GIVERNET, Deputy for Ain; Loïc HERVE, Senator for Haute Savoie; Gérard PAOLI, Vice -President of the Ain department; Cyril PELLEVAT, Senator for Haute Savoie; Pierre MAUDET, Geneva State Councillor, Head of the Department of Health and Mobility; Véronique MAYE VOUTAT, Head of External Affairs, HUG Geneva. Moderator: Fabrice BREITHAUPT, Journalist, Tribune de Genève.

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