To promote prevention and prevent the spread of the epidemic, the State budget finances each year State medical aid (AME), a system created in 1999 which provides medical care for people in an irregular situation residing in France for more than three months and whose resources are low.
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What care is covered?
How much does it cost?
In 2021, the credits allocated to the AME will amount to 990 million euros, against 893 million last year, an increase of 97 million.
The AME thus represents 80% of the appropriations of the health mission (1.33 billion euros) entered in the State budget.
The expenditure of health insurance, which covers approximately 200 billion euros for the care of all social insured persons are examined in the framework of the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS ).
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Despite a temporary closure of the borders induced by the health crisis in 2020, the ministry explains this progression of the AME by "
the continuous increase in expenditure observed in recent years
" which justifies the continuation in 2021 "
of the measures initiated since the start of the five-year term. to improve the management and efficiency of the system
”.
At the end of 2018, 318,106 foreigners in an irregular situation benefited from the AME, according to a report by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) published in October 2019. The typical beneficiary of the AME is a man between 30 and 34 years old, originally from the African continent, living alone in Île-de-France.
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The cost of AME has increased by 1.4% per year in 5 years (from 2013 to 2018), according to the Igas, which considers, however, that this development is underestimated due to the complexity of the administrative procedures. opposed to hospitals to obtain reimbursement for the care of foreigners in an irregular situation and the disregard of management costs.
In addition, the AME does not take into account the healthcare expenditure of asylum seekers, which is increasing rapidly, and are covered by health insurance via universal health protection (PUM) to the tune of around 200 million. euros.