A “suppression” of State Medical Aid (AME) “would not be acceptable”, according to Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher

“We have been clear. A suppression would not be acceptable because state medical aid, beyond helping foreigners in the territory, is a public health system”assured Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Ecological Transition, Energy, Climate and Risk Prevention, on France Bleu Nord on Tuesday, September 24. While Bruno Retailleau, the new Minister of the Interior, affirmed Monday on TFI that he wanted to reform the AME. The latter guarantees medical care to foreigners in an irregular situation who have been on French territory for at least three months.

Before joining the government, Bruno Retailleau, as leader of the Republican senators, had toughened up the Immigration bill brought by Gérald Darmanin in 2023. The senatorial right had adopted in particular the abolition of the AME. Today, the LR minister wants to reform it, and no longer abolish it. “All devices can be improved,” Agnès Pannier-Runacher, however, admitted.

“State medical aid has been reformed several times and it is not at all what we imagine, a system that would finance comfort care. It is really care that is very clearly defined and that corresponds to important care that needs to be taken care of quickly.”she continued. “There is no point in overwhelming hospitals or at least asking them to take charge of situations that could have been dealt with upstream”added Agnès Pannier-Runacher.