Social Fraud: Catherine Vautrin Details the Main Points of the Bill

Debiting a fraudster's bank account or geolocating medical transport: Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Labor, Health, Solidarity and Families, unveiled the main points of the bill against social security fraud expected in the fall, in an interview with Le Parisien. published Saturday, August 2.

The government hopes that this text, which "will also include measures to combat tax fraud" to be unveiled by the Minister for Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, will be "debated in Parliament at the end of the second half of the year" , explains Catherine Vautrin.

In presenting his €43.8 billion savings plan for 2026 to reduce the public deficit in mid-July, Prime Minister François Bayrou mentioned fraud involving public aid. "Social fraud is a betrayal of those who contribute to finance our social model," said ^Ms. Vautrin, who estimates the damage at €13 billion.

For example, the minister wants "social security funds to have access to the entire assets of the beneficiary" of social benefits to "ensure that they do not have undeclared income." This bill should also "improve the recovery capacity for unemployment benefits." In the event of "proven fraud," it would thus be possible to "request reimbursement of all amounts unduly received, which was not possible today for the return-to-work assistance scheme, for example," she explains. "If that is not enough, we will also be able to recover the money owed by debiting the fraudster's bank account."

Medical transporters would be required to "equip themselves with a geolocation device and an integrated electronic invoicing system, in order to guarantee the accuracy of the kilometers billed," the minister explained. The government also wants unemployment insurance "to be paid only into a bank account located in France or in the European Union."

Finally, "in the same way that the Ministry of the Economy taxes traffickers on the quantities of drugs seized, we will also tax them more," announces ^Ms. Vautrin. The text would thus increase the CSG (general social contribution) collected by the State for illicit activity with a rate of 45%. Today, for a trafficker under investigation, with "illicit income worth 100,000 euros, Social Security can only recover 9,200 euros in CSG." "With a rate of 45%, we will recover 45,000 euros," promises ^Ms. Vautrin.