Final vote paves way for EU cross-border health care
20-01-2011
On the 19th of January, an historic vote is made in the European Parliament, which will pave the way for residents wanting to seek health care anywhere in the European Union, expanding rights that would primarily help patients with rare diseases and people living near national borders.
The new rule will especially benefitpatients seeking advanced treatments, those living along borders where the nearest hospital is across the line, or those who work in one country but want to get treatment near family members in another country. According to French MEP Françoise Grossetête, this directive will now allow us to clarify the patients' rights, as they have been unclear before.
Only 1% of patients is currently seeking treatment abroad, costing national healthcare systems a total of € 10 billion. The Commission estimates that the cost increase under the new rules will be just € 30 million a year.
In order to discourage "health tourism," patients will only be reimbursed at home-country rates; so if a treatment costs more in another country the patient will have to pay the difference. However, while the directive mandates a kind of EU universal health coverage, it was not universally supported. Portugal, Austria, Poland and Romania rejected it in the European Council last month, and Slovakia abstained. And while the Netherlands supported the proposal,
Dutch MEP Kartika Liotard (GUE/NGL) denounced the EU vision of health care as a market product. Liotard said that there can be a risk that patients from rich countries will be able to travel to less expensive, poorer, countries where there is a threat that care standards for locals will deteriorate to make room for profitable health tourism.
Consumer advocates are pointing out cases, as in where the treatment is very expensive and the patient must get prior authorization from their current national health system, which they consider questionable.
Another concerning fact is the time limit. As Ophelie Spanneut, a policy analyst for the group said: "The vague time frame may lead to inequalities between counties and ultimately force health ministries to define what is "reasonable" before the European Court of Justice."
Under the directive, a request can only be refused if the treatment could quickly be obtained in the patient's current country, or if there are doubts about the qualifications of the physician. Each country must establish at least one national contact point for patients to get information about health providers, reimbursement procedures, and when prior authorization is needed. Patients can choose between public or private doctors.
The Standing Committee of European Doctors was disappointed by the amount of information available to patients before treatment and by the fact that vulnerable or disabled patients will not receive special consideration. However the group was pleased to see a call for increased international compatibility on health technologies to share patient information, plus more references to data protection. The final adaptation of the new rule will be made in February.
The full article can be read here: http://www.euractiv.com/en/health/final-vote-paves-way-eu-cross-border-health-care-news-501386
