Ah there's a difference in French immigration law between 'residence' (résidence) and 'stay' (séjour). When you come to France, for the first five years you can only apply for the 'stay' visas. These do indeed give you the right to live in France, but with certain restrictions on activity.

'Residence' is long-term permission to stay in France without restrictions on what you do for a living. You have to have been in France on certain forms of the 'stay' visas for five years continuously.

In your case, the Visiteur carte de séjour does count towards the requirements to eventually apply for 'résidence'. But as you've only been here for one year, you do need to renew your carte de séjour every year for the next four years before you can apply for a 'carte de résident'.

As for health care, I'm pretty sure as a 'Visiteur' you won't be able to sign up for French state healthcare benefits, so you will have to take out some sort of private health insurance to cover for you while you're here.