French Health Insurance is calling for a ban on the sale of cigarettes to people born after 2009 and thus creating a “tobacco-free generation”, in an annual report published Thursday.
The United Kingdom recently voted for this measure, becoming “the second country in the world” to do so, underlines French Health Insurance.
“There is no reason to be stupider” than them, France “is capable of doing that”, while today, “despite everything that has been done (displays on packages, price increases, etc.) we remain bad compared to our neighbors”, said the Director General of Health Insurance, Thomas Fatôme, at a press conference.
“It is now time to realize the preventive shift” in health policies because prevention is the “battle of the decade” and constitutes “a good investment,” said Samira Lehaine, president of the board of the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam).
The French Health Insurance deficit is forecast at 13.8 billion euros in 2026, and is expected, according to the latest forecasts, to worsen to reach 15 billion euros in 2027, and 17 billion euros in 2029, recalled Mr. Fatôme.
Among other preventive measures, Health Insurance suggests making helmets compulsory on bicycles and on “motorized personal travel devices” for those over 12 years old, in connection with the increase in “commuting accidents”: they have increased by 7.6% in 2024 and doubled since 2017, she writes.
Overall, Health Insurance estimates that its various proposals will make it possible to achieve the objective of 3.9 billion savings per year, “necessary to ensure the sustainability of expenditure” by 2030.
