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EU plans cross-border healthcare EU plans cross-border healthcare
(about 1 hour later)
The European Commission is poised to unveil a healthcare package that could give patients new rights to seek medical treatment elsewhere in the EU. The European Commission has unveiled a healthcare package designed to make it easier for patients to get medical treatment elsewhere in the EU.
Patients would not have to get their doctor's approval for non-hospital care abroad, officials are quoted as saying. Under the proposals, patients would not have to get their doctor's approval for non-hospital care abroad.
EU ministers and Euro MPs will discuss the proposals once they are unveiled. The European Parliament and EU governments must approve the rules for them to take effect.
Only costs similar to those in a patient's home state would be covered. About 1% of operations performed in the Patients would be able to claim up to the amount their treatment would have cost in their home country.
EU involve people from other countries. The Commission's draft directive is part of a wider "renewed social agenda" package aimed at clarifying citizens' rights in line with European Court of Justice rulings. The package also includes measures to improve access to jobs and fight discrimination and poverty. class="lp" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/default.stm">HAVE YOUR SAYAs a country we seem incapable of managing the NHS effectively, so why not!!!!Mark, London class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5037&edition=2&ttl=20080702123859">Send us your comments
Non-hospital care would be reimbursed by the home state up to the level the patient could expect at home, according to reports. In recent years the court's judges have ruled that freedom to cross EU borders for the best and quickest treatment is a right for all.
But the state would not reimburse expensive treatment received abroad that was unavailable in the patient's home country. A Commission healthcare spokesman, Nicholas Fahy, said the aim was to clarify patients' rights to treatment abroad, and the Commission was not introducing new rights.
Skipping queues In a landmark ruling in 2006, the European Court said the UK's National Health Service should reimburse a woman for a hip replacement operation she had in France.
HAVE YOUR SAYAs a country we seem incapable of managing the NHS effectively, so why not!!!!Mark, LondonSend us your comments
The package is seen as an effort to give patients greater freedom in choosing where they get treatment, and to answer critics who say the EU is too remote from ordinary citizens' concerns.
But "health tourism" - patients going abroad for treatment - has received wide publicity in recent years.
The commission's package would help bring EU rules in line with European Court of Justice rulings, such as one in 2006, which said the UK's National Health Service should reimburse a woman for a hip replacement operation she had in France.
The woman, Yvonne Watts, won the argument that patients facing "undue delays" in the queue for operations should be entitled to treatment in other EU countries. She paid £3,900 for the operation.The woman, Yvonne Watts, won the argument that patients facing "undue delays" in the queue for operations should be entitled to treatment in other EU countries. She paid £3,900 for the operation.
Currently the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) provides emergency care across the EU for patients who fall ill while abroad. No free 'health tourism'
The scheme only applies to those who have health insurance at home. The Commission says patients are entitled to be reimbursed for treatment that their home health authority would normally provide. The NHS would not be expected to pay for spa treatments in Germany, for example. It's exactly to make the rules clearer after all the court cases that the Commission has been working on new laws class="" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2008/07/given_that_pictures_are_so.html">Mark Mardell's Europe
class="bodl" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5037">Should cross-border healthcare be allowed? Join the debate here. Currently, only 1% of healthcare budgets are spent on cross-border healthcare and the number of people seeking treatment abroad is very small, the Commission says.
The new package still allows member states to require that their citizens get prior authorisation for hospital treatment abroad. But such authorisations would be on a case-by-case basis, and states would have to prove there was a specific problem justifying their limitation of a patient's right to foreign healthcare.
If the cost of treatment abroad exceeds the cost of similar treatment at home, the patient will have to pay the difference, under the Commission's scheme.
Currently the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) provides emergency care across the EU for patients who fall ill while abroad. It only applies to those who have health insurance at home.
The new scheme is designed to help in cases where the nearest hospital or specialist clinic is in a neighbouring country, or where a particular treatment can be provided faster or more expertly abroad.
The package is seen as an effort to give patients greater freedom in choosing where they get treatment, and to answer critics who say the EU is too remote from ordinary citizens' concerns.