The “Heritage” program was created for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Its objective is to enable France to become a more sporting nation and to make sport a real vector of public policies in areas such as education, culture and employment. Within this program, the French government launched in 2019 the national sport and health strategy 2019-2024. This strategy aims to improve the state of health of the population by promoting physical and sports activity for everyone, on a daily basis, with or without pathology and at all stages of life. It revolves around four axes: the promotion of health and well-being through physical and sports activity, at all ages; the development of adapted physical activity (APA) for therapeutic purposes;strengthening the safety of practices, whatever their intensity, and better protection of the health of athletes; finally, the documentation and dissemination of knowledge on the benefits and impacts of sports practice on health and physical condition.
Denis Masseglia, president of the CNOSF (French National Olympic and Sports Committee), specified on November 4, 2020 before the Senate that today’s young people take on average 30 seconds to 1 minute more to run 1 kilometer compared to there is 40 years old. France is far from being a European model in terms of physical activity: less than three-quarters (71%) of men and a little more than half (53%) of women reached the WHO recommendations in terms of physical activity between 2014 and 2016 according to a study by Public Health France. To limit in the short term and avoid a health catastrophe in the medium term, it is essential to fight against the increase in sedentary lifestyle, physical inactivity and all the associated chronic pathologies. Although a public health issue,one might wonder what role businesses, and in particular insurers, could play in this area?
“Sport on prescription”: regaining health through sport
Insurers have always been present in the field of sport. Not only because clubs, associations and sports federations are subject to insurance obligations for their members and their structure, but also because sports sponsorship has long contributed to improving the image of insurers. In France, this type of partnership is legion. We can, for example, mention Allianz on stadium naming, AG2R La Mondiale on cycling or even MGEN on biathlon.
However, in recent years, we have witnessed a proliferation of initiatives, particularly related to “prescription sport”. A decree of March 1, 2017 specifies: “As part of the care of patients with a long-term illness, the attending physician may prescribe a physical activity adapted to the pathology, physical capacities and medical risk of the patient “. On the other hand, no decree defines the terms of the financing… As sport on prescription is not covered by health insurance, some insurers and mutuals have invested in the subject to offer an offer to their customers.
Allianz is the latest to have embarked on “prescription sport” and also includes its members suffering from Covid 19 who have been admitted to intensive care. The system takes place in 5 stages: an assessment of the condition and expectations of the insured during a telephone interview; a prescription for physical activity by their attending physician; an assessment of his physical condition by a qualified professional; the creation of an adapted physical activity program; and registration in a structure qualified in sports and health, in one of the structures of the “Mutuelle des Sportifs” network, which created the first “Sports on prescription” guarantee in 2015. Allianz covers the prescribed services. as part of this program which can last up to 2 years.
After a year of experimentation, the MAIF has developed its model of sports prescription offerings with Mooven: the insured must pay € 59 for an assessment interview, the formulation of precise sports recommendations and a proposal for 3 contacts of sports structures. Note that this service is intended for all MAIF insured persons, regardless of their age, state of health and place of residence and that this innovative solution offers support for companies and individuals, on site or remotely. thanks to the VisioMoov platform.
An annual assessment to help as many people as possible
Today, prescription sport is reserved for people with chronic diseases and registered with the ALD system. What if companies were inspired by this to offer an optional and free annual assessment to their employees as part of their complementary health contracts, as proposed by the Institut des Rencontres de la Forme for example? In addition to increasing productivity and reducing stress, the generalization of such an initiative would fit perfectly into the French government’s national sport and health strategy for 2019-2024. Improve everyone’s health by promoting physical activity, a great promise less than 4 years before the Olympic Games organized in the city of birth of its founder. However,this good practice does not appear in the obligations of partner companies of Paris 2024…
Clément Laverdine
Consutant PMP
