[citation needed] Touraine served as a member of the National Assembly of France for Indre-et-Loire (3rd constituency) from 1997 to 2002 for the Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche political party.

[10] In her ministerial post, she worked to improve HIV/AIDS prevention and early diagnosis, promoted universal hepatitis C treatment with innovative drugs, implemented plain tobacco packaging and launched a nutrition labelling system.

She entered into negotiations with doctors and health insurance professional organisations to limit the prices of medical assistance.

[12] During her time in office, Touraine oversaw a 2013 pension reform which gradually extended the mandatory pay-in period from 41.5 years to 43 by 2035 and required workers, retirees and employers to fill in an annual deficit set otherwise to reach 20 billion euros ($26 billion) in 2020.

[18] By the end of her term, Touraine was widely expected to join her party’s presidential primaries in 2017; she eventually decided not to run for president.

[19] When Prime Minister Valls declared that he would seek the Socialist Party’s nomination and quit the government to focus on campaigning, Touraine was seen by news media as possible choice to replace him and lead what would effectively become a caretaker government; instead, the post went to Bernard Cazeneuve.

[20] In the ensuing cabinet reshuffle to form the Cazeneuve government, she lost the responsibility for women’s rights to newly appointed minister Laurence Rossignol.

[8][25] Touraine is married to diplomat Michel Reveyrand de Menthon, who is currently French ambassador to Chad.