The commission of inquiry into budgetary uncertainties in social security, requested by the RN and reported by RN deputy Joëlle Mélin, came out in favor of restricting state medical aid (AME), according to the report presented on Wednesday June 10.
The commission of inquiry, whose report was voted unanimously by those present according to the official report, proposes to “reduce the basket of care offered by state medical aid to only urgent care for which a lack of treatment would be likely to severely deteriorate the patient’s vital prognosis”.
The committee also calls for changes to “the legislative and regulatory framework so that health insurance can account for the health benefits provided according to the administrative status and nationality of the insured person”.
It also recommends “removing the healthcare stay system” which allows foreigners to obtain a residence permit to receive treatment in France, and generalizing the principle of compulsory prepayment for the care of foreigners not affiliated to the general social security system.
“Demagogic” proposal
The commission of inquiry also comes out in favor of strengthening political control of Social Security. It thus recommends that the appointment of the directors of the various national social security funds be submitted to the vote of the “relevant parliamentary committees”, and to entrust the “strategic and political” management of social security “to a minister of state responsible for social protection having jurisdiction over all the ministries responsible for the conduct of public policies which refer to it”.
The president of the commission of inquiry, the Renaissance deputy Annie Vidal, dissociated herself from the conclusions of the RN rapporteur with regard to foreigners. “True to its rhetoric, the RN is trying to make foreigners responsible for the imbalances in conclusions which seem written in advance, or not based on any factual element from the hearings,” she said in a press release on Wednesday. Annie Vidal also described the proposal to create a ministry dedicated to the fight against fraud as “demagogic”.
The AME allows foreigners in an irregular situation and with low income to have access to community medicine by paying for their care. It is defended by almost all former Ministers of Health regardless of their political color, not only for humanitarian reasons but also for reasons of public health.
