Simplifying European healthcare

MEPs and European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou will next Tuesday (27 February) discuss the problem of offering healthcare to Europeans outside their home country.

National governments and the Parliament last year voted to exclude health services from the scope of the services directive, saying health should not be subject to the same rules as other economic activities.

A public consultation on addressing this gap in the services directive closed at the end of January. Respondents were asked to consider such questions as whether EU legislation would be the best way to make cross-border healthcare easier.

Members of the Parliament’s environment, public health and food safety committee will next week get an early chance to quiz Kyprianou on what action the Commission might propose in response to the consultation.

Kyprianou is to present the full results of the consultation to health ministers at an informal Council meeting on 19-20 April. EU action on the issue is expected before the end of the year.

MEPs and European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou will next Tuesday (27 February) discuss the problem of offering healthcare to Europeans outside their home country.