Perspectives of Law and Public Administration (Dec 2022)
The European Patient, between the Values of the European Union, the Public Health Policies of the Member States and the Free Movement of Services
Abstract
The European citizen who leaves his state of residence to receive medical treatment in another Member State of the Union, is a beneficiary of the free movement of services. Therefore, European citizens should be treated in the host states identically/similarly to the nationals of these states, and the restrictions on mobility, including by the home state, should be analysed from the perspective of the legitimate purpose, necessity and proportionality. But the serious problem of financial resources bars this ideal. For this main reason, European Union law has provided for a system of prior authorisation in the case of patients who want to be treated in other Member States, authorisation on the obtaining of which the reimbursement of the expenses incurred by the patients is conditional. The Court of Justice made this system more flexible for the benefit of patients, but the full reimbursement of medical expenses was recognized only in the case of treatments which have the advantage of not generating a disability. In a Union whose values are human dignity, respect for human rights, social solidarity, the financial impossibility of European citizens with serious diseases of benefiting from effective medical treatments in another Member State, demonstrates the inconsistency of European law with its values.
