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This is the question that is emerging within the government. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, says he is ready to review the terms of access to this system which allows foreigners in an irregular situation to benefit from access to care for one year, renewable. A statement which is perceived by some as support for elected LRs who wish to make it emergency medical aid. But the Minister of Health, François Braun, is not of this opinion. For him, transforming this aid into emergency aid would be dangerous for public health.
State medical aid (AME) allows foreigners in an irregular situation to benefit from access to healthcare. To benefit from it, you must reside in France for more than three months, not have a residence permit for more than three months and receive resources not exceeding certain ceilings. Once granted, this aid is granted for one year, renewable on request each year. This aid granted to immigrants is currently being discussed, while a text of a law on immigration must be presented by the summer.
Caring for foreigners also means protecting the health of French people
In an interview given to Parisian published on Saturday May 27, 2023, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin said he was ready to discuss the terms of access to this system which covers 100% of the medical and hospital costs of foreigners in an irregular situation. The left fears that the Minister of the Interior will side with the Republicans and limit this aid to emergency medical aid, to save money.
For the Minister of Health, François Braun, reducing this aid to emergency medical aid is not possible because the AME presents challenges “extremely strong which are public health issues”. The Minister illustrated his point with telling examples: “what does urgency mean, how long does it mean? Are we going to cure a diabetes that is unbalanced and that we are going to let unbalance afterwards? And to add:If there is a new Covid that arrives in people who could benefit from state medical aid, we are not going to treat them (…) and we are going to let the disease develop? We need a global vision of public health”.
To respond to LR elected officials who declare that this device is expensive for the State, François Braun also wanted to recall that the AME represented “0.5%, even a little less, of the entire Social Security budget”.
A “talent passport” to bring foreign caregivers to France
In this same interview, the Minister of Health made an announcement, still within the framework of the future immigration law. The government could extend to health professions the “talent passport”, a residence permit for a maximum of 4 years for foreigners who have been in qualified salaried activity in France for more than three months. This exceptional residence permit was previously reserved for foreign researchers with a contract with a research unit in France. “I want to extend it initially to trades [comme] doctors, dental surgeons, pharmacists, midwives because that is where we have the greatest lack of professionals“, he explained.
One of the conditions for being entitled to it would be “a contract with an institution” of health allowing them to come to France and have time to take the knowledge validation exam. Those who pass the exam would get “a four-year residence permit”.