Health Systems Governance in Europe: The Role of EU Law and Policy

Summary:

There is a fundamental contradiction at the core of health policy in the EU that makes it difficult to draw a line between EU and Member State responsibilities. This raises a number of difficult questions for policy makers and practitioners as they struggle to interpret both 'hard' and 'soft' laws at EU and Member State level and to reconcile tensions between economic and social imperatives in health care.

This book addresses these complex questions by combining analysis of the underlying issues with carefully chosen case studies that illustrate how broader principles are played out in practice. Each chapter addresses a topical area in which there is considerable debate and potential uncertainty. The book thus offers a comprehensive discussion of a number of current and emerging governance issues in EU health policy, including regulatory, legal, 'new governance' and policy-making dynamics, and the application of the legal framework in these areas.

Table of Contents:

1. Health systems governance in Europe: the role of European Union law and policy
2. Health care and the EU: the law and policy patchwork
3. EU regulatory agencies and health protection
4. The hard politics of soft law: the case of health
5. Public health policies
6. Fundamental rights and health care
7. EU competition law and public services
8. EU competition law and health policy
9. Public procurement and state aid in national health care systems
10. Private health insurance and the internal market
11. Free movement of services in the EU and health care
12. Enabling patient mobility in the EU: between free movement and coordination
13. The EU legal framework on e-health
14. EU law and health professionals
15. The EU pharmaceuticals market: parameters and pathways