French Government To Improve Health Coverage For Algerian Retirees

French National Assembly (Parliament) approved, this week, an amendment that was proposed by Emmanuel Macron’s government to improve the health coverage of Algerian retirees, even if they are residents of their country of origin.

According to the French press, the government’s amendment is part of France’s Social Security sub-budget project for the coming year and was approved by the National Assembly with 39 votes in favor and 24 against.

The amendment, which concerns Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan retirees, was presented by the French Health Minister, Anis Bouzine, and is expected to be considered in a second reading in the French Senate before being formally adopted at a scheduled session on December 3.

In total, the people who are concerned with the resolution are 330,000 retirees from the three countries, including those who settled in France, and those who chose to return to their country after years of hard work in a number of jobs, and they are among the first generation of immigrants.

The new amendment includes extending health coverage to retirees who are living abroad and who have worked for more than 15 years in France during their temporary stay in France, and their minor children as well.

“They came to France between 1960 and 1970 and practiced a number of crafts, and France needed them, and after years of work they expressed their desire to return to their country, but they were treated contrary to others, and this is unfair, since the law at the time forced them to stay in France to obtain health coverage”, French MP from the republican party, Olivier Ferrand, explained.