In France, cardio-neurovascular diseases cause 140,000 deaths, 1.2 million hospitalizations and between 20 and 30 billion euros in expenses per year, according to Yannick Neuder and Public Health France. A heart attack or stroke occurs every two minutes, while up to 80% of accidents could be avoided by screening for hypertension, diabetes or cholesterol. The State is finally trying to organize this preventive shift.
Carried by the cardiologist and deputy Yannick Neuder, the
heart plan assumes this budgetary shift. The elected official affirms that health “can be an investment” and that “Better care does not mean spending more”. He mentions a “return on investment” of 1.2 billion euros per year and recalls that in Germany prevention costs 450 euros per inhabitant, compared to 180 in France.
Heart plan: a cardiovascular prevention law voted unanimously
Adopted in the National Assembly by 462 votes to 0 after agreement between deputies and senators, the Heart plan
creates a national strategy against these diseases. Linked to prevention appointments at key ages introduced in 2023, these consultations will include “screening for cardio-neuro-vascular diseases” and information “on risk factors” such as smoking, alcohol, obesity or hypertension.
Public Health France records 1.2 million hospitalizations and 140,000 deaths linked to cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases in 2022, or more than a fifth of deaths. In women, for whom stroke is the leading cause of death, the law targets “the determinants specific to their cardio-neuro-vascular risk, too often diagnosed and treated too late”, underlines Yannick Neuder cited by Sud Ouest.
Heart plan: screening at all ages, from school to physiotherapist office
THE heart plan introduces an “early screening” appointment from the age of 6 to identify familial hypercholesterolemia, “a genetic disease which affects one in 250 people and remains massively underdiagnosed”. At school, medical visits must provide information on cardio-neurovascular risks and may rely on prevention associations, local professional health communities or mutual insurance companies.
For adults, the law authorizes pharmacists, physiotherapists, nurses and medical students to measure blood pressure “as part of a preventive approach, while millions of French people are hypertensive without knowing it”. The High Authority for Health and the World Health Organization defend this global approach to risk, which makes it possible to trigger lifestyle advice and treatments earlier.
Heart plan: a medico-economic bet and a test for businesses
For Yannick Neuder, who estimates the cost of cardiovascular diseases at between 20 and 30 billion euros per year, prevention must be considered over ten years. He suggests that better screening could bring in 1.2 billion euros. Hence his call for “a prevention programming law because an annual budget will never finance an investment whose return is measured over ten years”.
The reform also mobilizes employers, via a modification of the labor code which strengthens cardiovascular prevention with occupational health services. Employee unions are in favor if medical confidentiality remains guaranteed, while Medef is worried about small businesses. A government report must, within three years, deliver a “medico-economic analysis of the measures undertaken” and measure the real effect of the heart plan.