The Defender of Rights or even researchers repeat it: State Medical Aid (AME) does not create a “migration air call”. Yet this is what Senator Françoise Dumont said on Wednesday in a tweet. Senator Les Républicains welcomed the vote on an amendment which replaces this aid with “emergency medical aid”, which offers less comprehensive healthcare coverage and is accessible after payment of stamp duty.
This amendment was adopted while the senators were debating in committee the immigration bill defended by Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, and Olivier Dussopt, the Minister of Labour.
FAKE OFF
- What is state medical aid?
These measures is destined foreigners present illegally in France for at least three months and who do not exceed a ceiling of resources (9,571 euros per year for a single person, 14,537 euros for a couple). You must provide proof of identity and residence to open the rights.
This aid gives the right to 100% coverage of certain treatments, within the limits of the Social Security tariffs, specifies the Health Insurance website. Finally, certain treatments considered non-emergency “are covered after a period of nine months after admission to the AME”, adds the Health Insurance.
Top reasons for care are childbirth, TB and HIV, says 2015 parliamentary briefing report quoted by the Defender of Rights.
- Does it really create a migratory “draught of air”?
In October 2019, Jacques Toubon, the Defender of Rights, regretted “the false idea according to which the “generosity” of a system such as the AME would lead to reinforcing illegal migratory flows by creating a “call for air” while that several studies show that the need for care is a completely marginal cause of immigration”.
In November 2019, a survey carried out by researchers from the University of Bordeaux and Irdes (Institute for Research and Documentation in Health Economics) with foreigners eligible for the AME, reinforces this finding: 10% of those questioned cited health as the reason for coming to France. The main reasons for coming to France were economic or social reasons for 47% of respondents.
“The reason for health may correspond to the fact of declaring that you have come to France ‘for treatment’, but more generally ‘for health'”, detail the researchers. This health motivation can be linked to other motivations, economic, social, private and political.
The researchers also observed that not everyone who is eligible for this medical aid benefits from it. Thus, less than one in two men (47%) and 60% of women benefit from it. This access to this system is also correlated with the length of stay in France: the longer it is, the more people benefit from it. 24% of people present in the territory for at least three months and less than a year are covered, compared to 65% for those present for five years or more. However, the researchers point out that “a significant proportion of people without residence permits who have settled permanently in France remain uncovered”.
Furthermore, declaring that they had come to France for a health reason does not then translate into systematic recourse to the AME: 34% of people who cited this reason did not have the AME at the time of the survey.
What deters eligible people from using it? Ignorance of the existence of this system, the complexity of the procedures or the impossibility of providing proof of residence or income are reasons that emerge from this survey. Sociologist Céline Gabarro, author of another survey, compared in 2022 Obtaining this aid is an “uphill battle”, highlighting the complexity of the procedures: the counters receiving the requests vary according to the departments, as do the opening hours. Agents sometimes ask for supporting documents that are not mandatory.
The amendment voted on Wednesday by the senators restores the payment of a stamp duty to access care. In 2011, access to the AME was also paid for, with a stamp duty of 30 euros. The device was removed the following year, accused of delaying access to care and leading in fine more expensive hospitalizations.
- Does the senators’ vote on Wednesday end state medical aid?
To be adopted, a bill must be passed by the Senate and the National Assembly. The text has just passed in committee in the Senate. It will be examined in first reading from March 28 in the hemicycle of the Senate, dominated by the right-wing opposition, the vote on the whole text being scheduled for April 4, according to AFP. It must then be voted on by the deputies, who can make changes to it. Around 316,000 people were beneficiaries of the AME as of December 31, 2017.