• A few weeks after its plan against tax fraud, the government unveiled Tuesday its roadmap against social fraud.
  • A merger of identity card / Carte Vitale will be tested in July by the executive, after the abandonment of the idea of a biometric Carte Vitale.
  • Cost, effectiveness, personal data? What to think of this track launched by the executive?

This is the flagship measure of the new plan against social fraud decided by the government: the merger of the Carte Vitale with the identity card. A reflection carried out at the top of the State that raises several questions. 20 Minutes takes stock.

A weapon to fight against social fraud?

The purpose of merging identity card and Carte Vitale: to counter fraudsters, in order to avoid loans or "rentals" of Carte Vitale that allow some to enjoy free care. "That's where we're going to go. Now the question is how and when," Attal said.

Already adopted by several European countries (Sweden, Portugal, Belgium), the merger is welcomed with restraint by the political class. Offensive on the subject of social fraud, The Republicans would have preferred a biometric Carte Vitale, a project that seems to be rejected by the executive because of its cost.

According to Bercy, social fraud is estimated at 8 billion euros of social contributions "evaded for informal work", 2.8 billion in social benefits paid by the family allowance funds, 200 million by the pension funds of the general scheme and "between 3 and 7% of certain health insurance expenses".

A risk to personal data

"It's not a simple question," concedes Etienne Deshoulières, a lawyer specializing in personal data, when asked about the difficulties that the merger could raise from a data protection point of view. The use of these is indeed governed by the famous GDPR (or General Data Protection Regulation) which prohibits the merging of files. "This implies that the processed data cannot be used for different purposes," says the lawyer. However, in the case of the merger, we would have data collected by the Civil Registry processed by the Health Insurance and vice versa. "In principle, this would not be possible," adds Mr. Deshoulières.

But the magic of the law lies in its exceptions. "The question is, could a law circumvent this prohibition? It is not impossible. Because the GDPR, a European text, provides that certain specific processing operations may be authorized by the law of a Member State. But the government will be on a particularly perilous ridge line, especially since health data is particularly sensitive and "requires special treatment". For his part, Gabriel Attal ensures that "the CNIL [National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms] is not opposed" to this merger. Waiting for his official opinion.

A technically difficult implementation?

Among the fears raised by this project, administrative delays. For many French people, it is already difficult to obtain an identity document or passport without waiting for many months. "Difficulties" of which the government is aware.

A joint prefiguration mission to the ministries of Public Accounts, Health and the Interior will begin in early July "to work on the technical and legal implementation" of this measure, they said in a joint statement. Conclusions are expected before the end of the year

  • Society
  • Economy
  • Identity
  • Health insurance
  • Social fraud
  • Gabriel Attal