If the year 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, it also celebrates the 70th anniversary of our Social Security. On this occasion, the Minister of Health Marisol Touraine reaffirmed in a speech the importance of this social device, while some politicians denounce a system of assistantship.
“At a time when extremist sirens are sounding again, let us oppose them with the firmness of the principles and values born from the rubble of war”, declared Marisol Touraine during the presentation of the festivities celebrating the ordinances of October 4 and 19, 1945. who introduced Social Security. “While some are now questioning this founding idea by advocating optional affiliation or by speaking of assistantship”, solidarity is “a founding principle” which “is not negotiable” and which constitutes “the best bulwark to dislocation,” added the Minister.
Social Security, which provides coverage for illnesses, pensions, accidents at work but also family benefits, is not just “a hole to plug” for the Minister, but the guarantee of protection for all, regardless of their family or professional situation. Social security would then be a “pledge of collective unity in hardship”, so that the most fragile “do not find themselves exposed to poverty. »
In this sense, renouncing the very foundations of Social Security “would make no sense on the pretext that some before us have not succeeded in restoring the balance to social security”, underlined Marisol Touraine, quoted by AFP . For the Minister, the deficit is not inevitable: reduced to less than 10 billion euros in 2014, it could be reduced for 2017 or 2018, at the cost of drastic savings.
A radical simplification in sight
Social security includes a multitude of different schemes (employees, farmers, civil servants, minors, etc.), numerous acronyms and complex financing mechanisms, which complicates the process. To see more clearly, the government wants to launch projects to radically simplify the system.
A reflection was launched by Marisol Touraine for “a universal health plan” because “everyone in our country is entitled to coverage”, while “it is sometimes complicated to assert one’s rights” following a move, entry into working life, a period of unemployment or other. The idea would be for everyone to keep the same health insurance fund throughout their life and regardless of their place of residence, beyond the changes that take place.
Finally, the thorny question of social security funding remains. To resolve it, the government is counting on the conclusions of the work of the High Council for the Financing of Social Protection, expected in early June.
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