According to 60 million consumers, public services are regularly unreachable

According to 60 million consumers, public services are often unreachable by phone. Health insurance is the most despicable.

On January 26, the magazine 60 million consumers denounced the public services on their availability problem . 72% of users wishing to contact Health Insurance by telephone cannot do so.

This difficulty in getting in touch with the administrations can be significant for users . The problem mainly affects people with illiteracy. Having trouble mastering the internet, they will not be able to find out about their right only by phone call.

A problem for some people

The magazine 60 million consumers conducted a study focusing on the appeals departments of various jurisdictions . The study revealed that the service number of the latter was too often unreachable.

Whether at Pôle Emploi, CAF or Health Insurance, individuals find it difficult to get in touch with these public services . Those who have tried say they have already been invited to go online.

The dematerialization of public services does not always facilitate access to information for some people . Currently, 15% of the French population do not have Internet access and prefer telephone calls.

'Unfortunately, people who aren't comfortable with the Internet have a lot of difficulty accessing even information on their rights,' lamented journalist Lionel Maugain, who helped produce investigation.

Investigation of 1,532 calls

Among people with illiteracy, are found in particular the elderly , foreigners and precarious people. Moreover, during the survey, the magazine selected 4 caller profiles fulfilling the conditions to benefit from the services .

The magazine chose the following profiles:

• A person without internet
• A foreigner with the Internet, but who has a strong accent
• An elderly person with the Internet
• An “ordinary” person

The survey that 60 million consumers carried out with the Defender of Rights is based on 1,532 calls made . This represents approximately 300 to 400 calls per organization.
The users had contacted the administrations to request information or procedures . A lambda caller took part in the survey to check if there are any differences in treatment.

72% of calls were unsuccessful

According to the figures, try to join the Health Insurance is the most difficult . As part of the study, investigators made 302 calls. The callers wanted to know the formalities required to obtain or renew a Vitale card.

According to 60 million consumers, 72% of these calls were unsuccessful . Note that a call is considered unsuccessful after 3 call attempts with 5 minutes of waiting.
When the body drops out, only 22% of calls had an acceptable response . Less than 5% of calls were able to get accurate answers. According to Lionel Maugain, Health Insurance is almost unreachable.

The Health Insurance explains these problems by saying that the calls received have more than doubled since fall 2019 . With around 3.2 million calls per month, the organization says it is struggling to recruit advisers for its telephone platforms.

At the CAF (Family allowance fund), 54% of the 408 calls had failed to contact the organization . If someone answers, callers do not receive sufficient answers. Advisors who respond invite them to go to the website.

Some callers were still able to get in touch with an agent who offered them an appointment at the counter. Individuals rarely receive proposals for solutions to their problems. Faced with the situation, some users end up giving up their rights .

Improvement solutions

At Pôle emploi, the survey revealed rather encouraging figures. 84% of calls were successful even if the caller did not always receive satisfactory answers .

72% of calls to the Pension Insurance Fund had someone on the line. Answers on the retirement age however, were not always relevant .

The magazine 60 million consumers and the Defender of Rights offer solutions to improve access to rights. These latter claim a law that requires the provision of several modes of access to public services.

A local counter should be set up with the presence of a representative of each organization throughout the territory. Public services should also use simple vocabulary .

Compared to the 2016 study, the results of the survey are unfortunately deplorable . However, callers have noticed progress in the telephone reception of all audiences. Users have not experienced significant discrimination with respect to their origin.

Source : 20minutes