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Residents take a stroll along the Customs Officers' Path near the Bay of Saint-Brieuc in the Brittany region of France. The photograph is unrelated to the content of the article. / EPA, Yonhap

France is pushing a plan to exclude thermal spa therapy from health insurance coverage, sparking a backlash from the tourism and spa industries.

Local media outlet BFM Business reported on the 18th (local time) that local communities and related industries are fiercely pushing back as it became known that the government will discuss transferring the reimbursement burden for thermal spa therapy to private insurers to cut its budget.

The French national health insurance fund reimburses part of thermal therapy costs for 12 categories of medical conditions related to the skin, respiratory system, and joints, provided there is an official prescription from a medical practitioner.

While varying across thermal spa resorts, treatment takes place for about 1.5 to 2 hours every day excluding weekends, and includes underwater jet massages, mud packs, thermal vapor inhalation therapy, and aquatic physical therapy.

Patients bear all costs for meals, lodging, and transportation during the thermal cure period, while the government covers 65% of treatment fees through statutory health insurance.

Last year, approximately 470,000 patients in France underwent an 18-day thermal cure under a doctor's prescription. The government paid a total of 200 million euros (approximately 300.7 billion won) in subsidies for their thermal therapy costs.

As the financial burden on the government grew, Minister of Health Stéphanie Rist stated at a board of directors meeting of the national health insurance fund on the 8th that "we plan to transfer the burden of thermal therapy costs to private insurers due to health insurance deficits," prompting pushback from the industry.

Spa towns heading into their peak season are voicing concern over sharp drops in visitors and revenue. The vast majority of municipalities offering thermal therapy are small towns with populations under 5,000. It is reported that numerous residents directly or indirectly employed in the spa industry reside in these areas.

Local governments are worried that if health insurance coverage for thermal cures is halted, patients will stop coming, potentially plunging into crisis the economies of small towns reliant on the industry.

Franck Leroy, president of the regional council of Grand Est, where the thermal industry holds significant weight, forecast that "while the government will trim its budget in the short term, health spending will rise further in the long run as medication use, consultations, and hospital admissions increase."

An industry insider also raised concerns over medical inequality, noting, "Because private insurers have no obligation to reimburse thermal cures, situations could arise where patients cannot receive thermal therapy depending on their income, even if they have a doctor's prescription."

Meanwhile, questions regarding the therapeutic efficacy of thermal cures have also been raised in some medical circles. Although the French National Authority for Health (HAS) initiated an evaluation of the therapeutic contribution of thermal therapy at the government's request last year, it is expected to take a considerable amount of time before findings are released because characteristics differ across individual spa sites.

                                                                                                               Lim Yu-jung