A LAW clarifying how and when patients seeking treatment in other EU countries can have the cost of that care met by their own government was approved by the European Parliament yesterday.
It states that if there is an undue delay in receiving hospital treatment, an EU citizen can seek that treatment abroad, pay for it and have the cost reimbursed at home.
The amount which will be reimbursed cannot be more than the treatment would have cost in their own country.
In addition, anyone seeking hospital treatment abroad that requires an overnight stay must get prior authorisation for the treatment before travelling. A person may be refused the right to travel for treatment if they are very ill or if the treatment can be provided at home within a justifiable period.
Travel for treatment of rare diseases not provided for in one’s own country cannot be refused.
Primary or GP care in another European country would not require permission in advance.
The directive, which has been under consideration for several years, comes in the wake of a number of European Court of Justice decisions vindicating the rights of patients to travel for treatment in certain circumstances.
EU member states, which have 30 months to enact the new law, will now have to set up a one-stop-shop or national contact point where citizens can get all the information they require to avail of their rights under the directive on patients rights in cross-border healthcare.
John Dalli, European commissioner for health and consumer policy, said it was not the intention of the directive “to make nomads out of our citizens”. He made it clear member states have a duty to invest in their healthcare systems so that patients do not have to travel to receive care.
“We need to push everybody to invest in healthcare even in the present economic situation because investment in healthcare is investment in our future economies as well,” he said.
About 1 per cent of health budgets are now spent on cross-border healthcare across the EU – an estimated €10 billion a year – and Françoise Grossetête, the French MEP who led discussions on the directive in parliament, said it was not envisaged this will increase when the directive comes into force.
She said it would be mainly of benefit to those who lived in border areas, for whom a hospital across a border was closer than one in their own state.
“We are not trying to promote medical tourism . . . I’m quite convinced we are not going to see bus loads of citizens going from one member state to another,” she said. She added that if the treatment abroad was cheaper than at home, only the cost of the treatment would be reimbursed. There was no question of patients making money on their decision to travel to receive care.
Asked who would decide when a patient had experienced an undue delay in their own country, Mr Dalli said: “The country will decide on undue delay but the commission will be monitoring all these decisions.”
Patients will have the right to request a review of any decision to refuse them permission to travel for care.
The directive does not require the cost of actual travel to receive treatment to be reimbursed as a general rule, but should a member state want to do so for their own citizens, they can.
The new law is meant to complement rather than replace existing EU regulations, such as the treatment abroad or E112 scheme, which allows patients receive treatment abroad in certain circumstances, including situations where the type of care required is not available at home.
Labour MEP Nessa Childers said the directive will greatly enhance patient mobility in Europe, shortening Irish waiting lists, while Fine Gael MEP Maireád McGuinness gave the directive a cautious welcome, saying it may be that patients would find it better to apply for cross-border healthcare under the existing rules than under the new directive.