Patient mobility in the European Union: pushing for EU internal health market

Abstract

Having access to high-quality healthcare is a priority issue for European citizens and is recognised by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. The right to healthcare also encompasses situations where patients travel from one EU Member State to another and receive treatment there. This paper will explore the contradictory relation between the competence of EU Member States to regulate their health systems on their own, on the one hand, and free movement of services in the European Union, on the other hand. It will discuss the consequences of the decisions of the European Court of Justice in this field and the provisions of the Proposal for a Directive on Patients' Rights in Cross-Border Healthcare, especially in the light of opening up of EU Member States' healthcare markets, the need to control national healthcare expenditures and to protect the welfare state and the population of the host state.