lot of administrative burden and hidden cost for giving out cards, managing giant secure databases

This already exists, France already has social security cards and right verifications (at the point sometimes a status change will mean month without a valid social security, in principle once it:s sorted it’s retroactive, but advancing one doctor visit is a thing, advancing a whole surgery is another)

Sure. But that administrative overhead goes somewhere - typically to private consulting firms and third party private administrative groups. So its very lucrative if you’ve got the ear of the President and a media-environment that’s good at playing Three Card Monty with your voters.

Everyone hates migrants, pensioners don’t add labor to the economy, and now a friendly consulting firm is invested in giving the current administration kickbacks to keep their contract going. Win-Win-Win.

Will it be means testing though? As I understood from the article, a US pensioner moves to France, he gets a “carte vitale” there, allowing him the free health care and to cancel his US private plan. With this proposal, no carte vitale would be handed out, forcing the pensioner to keep relying on his US plan.

Does France not already have a giant database of citizens and various visa holders with their information and all that? Do they not give out cards to use at the doctor’s office?

What extra burden would “not giving out that card to retirement visa holders” add?

I suggest you read the article. Your questions will be answered.