The oral health component of «100% santé» reform: initial descriptive elements

Abstract

The “100% Santé” (100% Health) reform constitutes a major change to oral health pricing and insurance practices in France. The objective of this study was to observe the evolution of dental care consumption, and in particular prosthetic care, over a period including the years before and after the reform. This exploratory study, based on descriptive data, provides the first elements of analysis useful for evaluating the oral health component of the “100% Santé” reform. The study is based on the health care consumption data of 3,466,764 state health insurance beneficiaries aged three to twenty-five years in Occitania, covering the period from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2020. The descriptive analysis of this data revealed that prosthodontic care is the only area to show an increase in the average amount of care consumed between 2019 and 2020: a relative increase of +4 percent among 3–25-year-olds and +6.7 percent among 21–25-year-olds. Moreover, among 21–25-year-olds, we observe a drop in the share of prostheses in the care consumed in 2019, and then a recovery approaching 0.3 percent of the initial share in 2020. Although it is not possible to conclude that there is an impact, these results show a positive trend whereby the reform’s objective of increasing prosthodontic care consumption seems to have been achieved. This study highlights the importance of assessing the long-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the “100% Santé” reform on dental care consumption.