Less bureaucracy, more information for patients receiving treatment abroad

Karsten Petersen (DK/PES), the rapporteur on cross-border healthcare for the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and chairman of the assembly's inter-regional group on health, began the debate by posing the questions: "How to raise the awareness of European citizens about their rights and options in cross-border healthcare and how to improve in practice the access to information? 

The hearing represented an opportunity to take stock of how Member States have implemented the EU's directive on cross-border healthcare (2011/24/UE), two years after the October 2013 deadline for the transposition of the directive into national law. The CoR contributed to the directive through an opinion on cross-border healthcare adopted seven years ago. The purpose of the hearing was to bring together European, national and regional authorities to discuss how to realise the directive's full potential.

To date, the European public still knows little about the directive, which states that patients have the right to reimbursement when receiving care abroad, up to the value which the same care would have cost in their home health system. A Eurobarometer survey shows that, in fact, most patients do not even know they can seek healthcare in another Member State. Fewer than 20% of patients feel they are informed about their cross-border healthcare rights and the National Contact Points (NCPs) are only known to about 10% across the EU .

Recent studies indicate a range of shortcomings in the implementation of patients' rights in cross-border healthcare, as well as insufficient regional cooperation and exchange between EU Member States. Notable challenges highlighted by the studies include cumbersome bureaucratic procedures and financial and linguistic barriers.

Emily Westley (UK/PES), 2nd Vice chair of the NAT Commission, warned against the emergence of a two-tier medical system. "Everything boils down to money, and the same standard of treatment should be available to all European Citizens. European health-care systems should be for all not just those who can afford it."

Members of the CoR, experts and patients stressed that delays in implementation of the Directive persist at the national level. They also underscored the need to promote cross-border cooperation on health, with a special focus on border regions since one-third of Europe's regions are border areas.

They also called for steps to be taken to ensure that more vulnerable patients can exercise their rights under Community law. They emphasised that the Directive is for any patient who has a need regardless of their income.

Mr Petersen will send a letter to Vytenis Andriukaitis i, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, to raise concerns about obstacles to the exercise of patients' rights to cross-border healthcare.