The Ministry of Economy and Finance is preparing to entrust to Alan the health coverage of its 134,000 agents, to which are added 84,000 assigns, 120,000 retirees and their 36,000 beneficiaries. Behind this decision, it is a strategic orientation which is confirmed, that of a state which assumes to favor technological operators to embody its reform of complementary social protection. This turn, considered brutal by the historic mutuals, illustrates a desire to break with the balances inherited from the post-war administration.
The call for tenders launched by Bercy is part of the reform of the PSC, which aims to generalize health and pension coverage in the public service according to rules comparable to those of the private sector. It introduces a logic of structured competition, based on performance, accessibility and cost criteria. As such, Alan, already awarded contracts of the Ministries of the Ecological Transition and the Services of the Prime Minister, consolidates his position as a partner of the change.
The designation of this new player, centered on a 100 % digital model, can be interpreted as a response to the expectations of rationalization, fluidity and simplification of procedures. It also reflects arbitration in favor of solutions deemed more competitive, in particular on management costs and the modularity of offers. For the government, this approach is part of a broader effort to transform public action, both in its tools and in its management culture.
However, this choice arouses great opposition. The union representatives believe that this decision weakens the foundations of the inter -ministerial agreements signed in 2022 on the PSC. Some see it as a political rupture, which bypassing the logics of social co-construction. The use of a company still in deficit, the model of which is based on growth supported by the financial markets, feeds concerns about the sustainability of the service and the ability to assume long -term commitments.
For the CGT State, it is even ” A political decision aimed at consolidating the economic model of Alan, and this company in particular, in order to allow it to achieve its declared objectives. »»
The MGEFI, a mutual insurance company historically linked to Bercy, was ahead of several criteria of the call for tenders, in particular those related to the price, to support and prevention. These results question, insofar as the outgoing service provider had a dense territorial network and experience of several decades in the monitoring of public officials. The absence of complete transparency on the weighting of criteria feeds, in some, the feeling of a rating oriented towards an expected result.
Critics do not only relate to the substance, but also to the meaning given to this reform. The entry of actors from tech in the historically mutualist field of the public service upsets the benchmarks. It confronts two logics: that of professional solidarity organized around a human and territorial anchoring, and that of a standardized, digitalized service, controlled by data and user experience.
In ministries, this recomposition creates tension lines. The question of compulsory membership, validated by the Bercy internal agreement in 2024, makes the decision all the more structuring. In the event of a legal challenge, mentioned in particular by the CGT State union, it is the robustness of the allocation process itself which could be re-examined.
More than a simple call for tenders, this contract illustrates a moment of rocking with the assumed entry of the State in a more entrepreneurial management of its social protection, with the risks, tensions and the effects of windfall that this can generate. The next market to conquer, that of the Ministry of National Education, will say if this trend is experimenting or a lasting strategy.