EU calls for healthcare without borders

July 10, 2008

European Union citizens should be able to go to a doctor, dentist or optician anywhere in the bloc without having to get permission at home first, officials in Brussels said Wednesday.

And the patient's national health service should not only provide information on medical systems elsewhere in the EU, it should even pay for the treatment received, as long as would have paid for it to be done at home, a legal proposal from the European Commission ran.

"Patients prefer to be treated as close to home as possible, and in the vast majority of cases that can be done within their own country," EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said as she presented the legal proposal.

"But sometimes the care that people seek can best be provided in another EU country, such as in border regions or particularly specialised treatment," she said.

At present, EU citizens have the right to receive emergency medical treatment in any member state. They can also plan to have treatment in another EU country if their home system cannot provide it soon enough, or if it gives them specific permission to do so.

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