French doctors protest over cost-control efforts

PARIS (AP) - Hundreds of French doctors, many wearing white lab coats and blue surgical caps, are marching in Paris in a protest over work conditions and government efforts to rein in their pay.

France's state health fund has fixed rates of reimbursements for many doctors' services. When doctors charge more than that, patients or their private supplemental insurance pay the rest.

Many doctors oppose a plan by Health Minister Marisol Touraine that aims to limit how much doctors charge above the state insurance system's reimbursements.

Many doctors complain of being overworked and fear a slide towards free-market, American-style health care.