The official mediation process between the Luxembourg Association of Doctors and Dentists (AMMD) and the National Health Fund (CNS) is not yet concluded. However, the AMMD announced last weekend that it will not sign a new convention with the CNS.
This comes after the doctors' association terminated the existing agreement last autumn and engaged in negotiations for a new text – talks they now say have failed to deliver meaningful reform. According to the AMMD, neither the CNS nor the current government coalition of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) and the Democratic Party (DP) has shown willingness to modernise the health system.
Health Minister Martine Deprez sees the situation differently.
Last Friday, the AMMD informed its members via newsletter that they had not reached an agreement with the CNS and considered the mediation failed. Minister Deprez expressed surprise, noting that the mediation process is, in fact, still ongoing.
The mediator has not yet concluded her work and is still waiting for feedback from both parties. The official deadline for the mediation is on Thursday.
Despite mediation not yet being formally completed, the AMMD's position is now clear. The association accuses the CNS and the government of failing to signal any real readiness for substantial change in the healthcare system, even after direct exchanges with both Minister Deprez and Prime Minister Luc Frieden.
Deprez, however, rejects these criticisms, insisting that the negotiations they pursued were centred on the convention, but what they want to achieve cannot be resolved within that framework. She adds that they have been working in task groups, including meeting the PM twice, and emphasises that their proposals remain on the table and that they are willing to continue discussions.
The current convention expires at the end of October. From that point onward, everything previously governed by the agreement will be regulated via a new Grand Ducal regulation, which still needs to be drafted. For patients, nothing will change immediately.
However, Deprez explains that the conventional framework is more flexible. That means AMMD representatives can negotiate directly with the CNS, proposing clarifications or amendments to specific articles. The regulation reduces this flexibility.
For the AMMD, this is not a viable long-term solution. Without a convention, the association's president, Chris Roller, warns that Luxembourg risks moving towards a fully state-run healthcare system.
So far, the CNS has not issued any public comment on the developments.
