How would joint id and health card plan work for foreigners in france?

SCHEME TO FIGHT FRAUD MADE A ‘PRIORITY’ BY PRIME MINISTER A scheme to combine the French healthcare carte Vitale with a user’s ID card is to be made “a priority” in order to fight healthcare

fraud, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has stated. However, how this would work for foreign residents (who do not have an ID card) has not been clarified. The plan to merge the ID card with

the carte Vitale was announced as part of a wider crackdown on social security fraud which cost France more than €2billion in 2023. The government has set a target to cut social security

fraud by €5.5billion by 2027, with €2.4billion of savings in healthcare alone. Mr Attal suggests that combining the ID card with the _carte Vitale _could contribute to these savings.

FOREIGNERS TARGETED “There are people who come to France for medical care using someone else’s _carte Vitale_,” said Mr Attal at the press conference on March 20. “These individuals abuse

our national solidarity while having no rights to public health insurance.” An individual’s social security number does not appear on their ID card but is instead on their _carte Vitale_.

While doctors can in theory request to see both, they do not do this systematically. As a result, it is possible for unscrupulous individuals to use someone else’s carte Vitale - an

accusation often levelled against illegal immigrants to France. However, the new plans to combine the cards do not include any provisions for the millions of foreigners - EU and non-EU - who

hold_ cartes Vitales _legitimately. At present they would be penalised by the measure, which Mr Attal says is aimed at “simplification”. No date has been set for a decision as to whether

the cards will be combined. Neither the health ministry nor the social security system (CNAM) could answer questions from _The Connexion_ concerning the plans. HEALTHCARE OPPOSITION However,

the French healthcare system _l’Assurance maladie _has already expressed its scepticism. “Combining the cards does not meet any real need of ours,” wrote the head of the _Assurance

maladie_’s national director Thomas Fatôme in an open email to the government. Mr Fatôme goes on to argue that the combination of the ID card with the carte Vitale would complicate the

_Assurance maladie_’s projects to modernise the system. In particular, such a change would mean that its new app, which allows users to carry an electronic version of the _carte Vitale_,

would be obsolete even before its scheduled national release later this year. READ MORE: WHICH OFFICIAL FRENCH DOCUMENTS CAN YOU NOW CARRY ON YOUR SMARTPHONE?