The document was referring to eight retirement residences administered by the Office National des Anciens Combattants et des Victimes de Guerre, the ONAC. These retirement residences are run entirely by the state, and as such, they provide benefits equivalent to those provided by other retirement residences in France. Of course, the retirement residences are obliged, to some extent, to provide services.
There are 660 beds. Clearly, this number is not adequate to meet the needs of veterans. Some of the veterans must therefore go to the private sector. The medical services, reception and standards are not any better in the private sector, but sometimes this is the only way to find a bed.
An agreement between the retirement residences that are fully subsidized by the ONAC and private retirement residences enable us to find beds, but do not afford any significant cost benefits. This agreement simply makes it easier for us to get access to beds. I am not convinced that all of the retirement residences in France are able to accommodate the needs of all French citizens.
So the number of beds is limited both for veterans and society in general. The benefit of this agreement with the private retirement residences lies primarily in the fact that an individual can go to the top of the list and not have to go through the normal procedure. But there again, it is the veterans who have to pay for the cost of these private retirement residences. To my knowledge, no subsidy is offered if an individual is not able to obtain a bed out of the 660 reserved for pensioners.