HEALTH MINISTER. Brigitte Bourguignon is the new Minister of Health, former Minister Delegate in charge of Autonomy, she is promoted to head the ministry to replace Olivier Véran.
[Mis à jour le 20 mai 2022 à 17h21] Health, one of the two major projects of the five-year term, is up to Brigitte Bourguignon. The former Minister Delegate in charge of Autonomy takes the place of Olivier Véran and has just been appointed Minister of Health. It is a promotion, made official this Friday, May 20 during the announcement of the government by Alexis Kohler, which comes with its share of responsibilities because Emmanuel Macron has the ambition to put the health and hospital system back on its feet during his mandate, and he counts on the new tenant of the avenue de Ségur to help him. This professional medical secretary who heads the Social Affairs Committee at the National Assembly is already familiar with the political workings of the ministerial cabinet and will take control of it shortly during the transfer of power with Olivier Véran, the one with whom she worked. for almost two years.
Olivier Véran replaced by Brigitte Bourguignon in Health
Arrived at the ministry on February 16, 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 health crisis, Olivier Véran spent two busy years in the government having to deal with the difficulties of the hospital and medical sector and a pandemic. The trained neurologist would have liked to extend his stay on Avenue de Ségur, but his image is now inseparable from the Covid-19 epidemic and recalls the five-year period that the Head of State prefers to forget. The renewal of Olivier Véran at the Ministry of Health seemed impossible from the start, instead it is the one who worked for him as Minister Delegate in charge of Autonomy who takes the direction of the Ministry of Health. A woman who already knows the places and especially behind the scenes of the implementation of public policies. If she is not a doctor like her predecessor, she worked as a medical secretary before entering politics, first under the colors of the Socialist Party and then joining La République en Marche. Olivier Véran is still a member of the government but in a very different position, that of Minister Delegate in charge of Relations with Parliament.
What is the role of the Minister of Health?
All public policies concerning the health system, the hospital system and other sectors linked to solidarity are taken at Avenue de Ségur, a name known but for the famous “Ségur de la Santé”. There is no shortage of decisions to be made and missions to be fulfilled, according to the official roadmap, the Minister of Solidarity and Health, according to the full name of the position, must work towards “the organization of prevention and care, research and innovation in the field of health” and has various missions which relate as much to “the family, pensions, childhood, the elderly, disability, autonomy and the fight against exclusion “, specifies the government on its website. A very vast field of action on which the minister acts with his deputy ministers. If only a handful of the skills required of the Minister of Health were to be retained, it would be these: defining the rules relating to the schemes and management of social security bodies and complementary health bodies; prepare the social security financing law (PLFSS); fight against poverty and exclusion; developing social and solidarity economic development policies.
Who are the previous Ministers of Health?
The Ministry of Health has existed since 1920 and has changed its name several times until taking that of “Ministry of Solidarity and Health” since 2017. In addition to the names, it is also the ministers who have succeeded each other in the premises of Avenue de Segur.
- Elisabeth Hupert (May 18, 1995 – November 7, 1995)
- Hervé Gaymard (November 7, 1995 – June 2, 1997)
- Bernard Kouchner (June 4, 1997 – July 28, 1999)
- Dominique Gillot (July 29, 1999 – March 27, 2001)
- Bernard Kouchner (February 6, 2001 – May 7, 2002)
- Jean-François Mattei (May 7, 2022 – March 31, 2004)
- Philippe Douste-Blazy (March 31, 2004 – May 31, 2005)
- Xavier Bertrand (June 2, 2005 – March 26, 2007)
- Philippe Bas (March 26, 2007 – May 18, 2007)
- Roselyne Bachelot (May 18, 2007 – May 16, 2012)
- Marisol Touraine (May 16, 2012 – May 17, 2017)
- Agnès Buzyn (May 17, 2017 – February 16, 2020)
- Olivier Véran (February 16, 2020 – May 20, 2022)