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The two projects, different on the technological aspect but also on their finalities, will they be able to coexist? Or will the choice of the menu be left to the French? The point on the question.
Digitizing the vital card is one thing, offering multiple variants is another. And yet: while the construction of the e-carte vitale is soon coming to an end, 20 million euros have been released within the framework of the amending finance bill to launch the biometric Vitale card.
E-carte vitale or biometric Vitale card: what are the differences?
If the first version seems to contain all the information of a “classic” vital card and is easy to use (because it can be downloaded from a simple smartphone or tablet), the second version should allow to fight against fraud – like identity cards or French passports.
The problem ? Many French people wonder if these two projects can merge. An impossible option according to Bruno Ségales, specialist in technologies around health, interviewed by our colleagues from 20 minutes.
“As long as we have meaningful identifiers and the notion of rights holder who has nothing to do with people, we cannot achieve a global solution with a single card. These are the two key points to be resolved since the beginning.”
As a reminder, the term “beneficiary” is a member of the family of a beneficiary of Social Security or other social protection. For example, we speak of rights holders for children as well as for spouses.
Another “defect” of the biometric card: since it is not linked to a person but to an account number, it would not solve the problem of networks using “real” vital cards for drug trafficking.
For its part, the vital e-card also has limits, as Bruno Sagères reminds us.
“Today, only the Orange operator has implemented the Vitale e-card application. Thanks to the Mobile Connect function, only subscribers of this operator will be able to dematerialize their Vitale card.”
This vital card is therefore, like the other, not yet quite ripe to be adopted by the majority of French people.
It remains to be seen whether the government will end up deciding between these two cards – an option that seems reasonable given the staggering cost of the two projects.