State medical aid: the “general framework” will not “change”, assures the Minister of Health

Health Minister Genevieve Darrieussecq stated on Wednesday that "the general framework" of State Medical Aid (AME), intended for foreigners in an irregular situation, "will not change," even if "a few things may change," from a budgetary point of view.

The government finally announced on Tuesday that it was in favor of freezing funding for AME, a reversal after initially planning to increase it in the 2025 budget.

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"Its modification (of the AME) can be done marginally, as potentially recommended in the report by Messrs. Evin and Stefanini (report published at the end of 2023, editor's note). There are a few lines that can be changed, but that won't change the general framework, of course, of the AME," assured Genevieve Darrieussecq on France Inter.

"I believe that the Prime Minister also expressed himself in this sense by saying, no ideology, we look at this report and we adapt it if necessary," she added.

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Genevieve Darrieussecq believes that the AME, a system that Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau is inclined to reform to restrict its scope, "is the most controlled and safest system."

Asked about the possibility that AME would be a subject of the future immigration law announced for early 2025, Ms. Darrieussecq insisted: "State medical aid is a matter of health and public health, even public health." "I am not in favor of its abolition," she insisted.

Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin confirmed on Tuesday evening a report from RMC that the government will submit an amendment as part of Parliament's review of the 2025 budget to ensure that AME spending does not increase next year.

The draft budget presented last Thursday provided for an increase in AME funding of 8%, to 1.3 billion euros, compared to 1.2 in 2024, which sparked protests from some elected members of the National Rally, opposed to this increase.

State Medical Aid provides care to people in an irregular situation who have been residing in France for more than three months, whose resources are low and who are not entitled to coverage under the standard system.