“Full coverage” by Social Security: Emmanuel Macron announces that wheelchairs will be fully reimbursed

Les fauteuils roulants seront entièrement remboursés dès le 1er décembre 2025. (Illustration) MAXPPP – Patrice Lefevre

Ce jeudi 6 février 2025, Emmanuel Macron annonce que les fauteuils roulants seront entièrement remboursés dès le 1er décembre prochain.

Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that the full reimbursement of wheelchairs by Social Security, promised for two years, would be effective from December 1 of this year.

A “complete support”

“As of tomorrow, the list of all the wheelchairs that will be supported will be released”, declared the head of state in a video broadcast on TikTok, assuring that this list was “very broad”. For “more specific” wheelchairs, particularly for disabled sports, “complete support” will also be possible after “prior agreement” with the Social Security, with a response within a maximum period of “two months”, he promised, a few days before the 20th anniversary of the Disability Act of February 11, 2005.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

@emmanuelmacron Yes, your wheelchairs are not reimbursed enough. We're changing that. @Arthur Baucheron @Charlotte ♬ original sound – Emmanuel Macron

About a million people in France use a wheelchair, including seniors with reduced mobility and people with disabilities, with specific needs. In April 2023, the president had promised the full reimbursement of wheelchairs, starting in 2024.

Since then, the subject has been the subject of negotiations between Social Security, chair manufacturers and distributors, in order to reach regulated prices.

The dissolution of the National Assembly in June 2024 and the censure of Michel Barnier's government in December have also slowed down the completion of the project.

“I know, it's always too long for me too, but they (the negotiators, editor's note) have done their best”, conceded Emmanuel Macron, welcoming the “beginning of a change in life for many of our compatriots”. A manual wheelchair can cost up to 10,000 euros, an electric one up to 50,000 euros.

Health insurance reimburses up to 600 euros in the first case and up to 5,200 euros in the second. The departments, via the disability compensation benefit (PCH), often participate in the financing, up to several thousand euros.

Disability advocacy associations, however, denounce the cumbersome administrative procedures for obtaining funding for wheelchairs as well as the remaining costs, which they consider often too high.

In his general policy statement on January 14, Prime Minister François Bayrou also assured that reimbursement would become full.