“Hello, it’s the Health Insurance”. Hundreds of thousands of French people will hear it in the coming weeks, and it’s not a new scam. As revealed by our colleagues at Midi Libre, the Health Insurance is preparing to launch a vast campaign of calls during the month of June, targeting 500,000 people across the country. The objective: to raise awareness among patients suffering from diabetes or heart failure of the importance of regular medical monitoring.
Strengthen medical monitoring
According to the official press release published on April 23 on the website of the Health Insurance and relayed by Midi Libre, the targeted people are those who suffer from diabetes or heart failure and who have only consulted their general practitioner once, or not at all, during the past year. “The High Authority for Health recommends at least four consultations per year with your general practitioner,” recalls the Health Insurance, quoted by the regional daily.
Through this telephone campaign, Social Security aims to “raise awareness among policyholders with diabetes or heart failure of the importance of regular consultations with their general practitioner.” These calls will thus make it possible to check whether patients are following a care pathway adapted to their condition and, if necessary, to refer them to their primary care physician.
The choice to target these two conditions is not insignificant: In France, more than 4.3 million people were being treated for diabetes in 2022, or 6.3% of the population. Type 2 diabetes (which represents more than 90% of cases) is growing rapidly worldwide. According to the WHO, the number of type 2 diabetics increased from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014, our colleagues point out.
A call not to be missed
Health Insurance emphasizes the link between these two diseases: “People with diabetes are up to four times more likely to develop heart failure, while patients with heart failure can more easily develop type 2 diabetes,” it specifies.
While telephone scams are on the rise (and scammers regularly usurp Social Security to dupe their victims), Health Insurance wishes to reassure: this is in no way an attempt at fraud. “The aim of these calls is to ensure that the care pathway for the people concerned is taking place under good conditions and, if necessary, to refer them to their primary care physician,” the organization emphasizes.
It therefore advises all French people to take this call seriously and respond favorably. We hope that fraudsters do not take advantage of this period to launch campaigns to extract funds from new victims…
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