Commission to open internal market for health care[fr] 

When travellers fall ill in another EU country, their costs are covered by the EU health insurance card. Their domestic health insurance may also be able to pay for treatment abroad when a patient has obtained prior authorisation. The same is not true, however, when patients do not obtain such authorisation or when, acting in good faith, they fail to ask for it. 

The European Court of Justice ruled, in a number of landmark cases, on the following matters:

• Patients with chronic pain for whom waiting time for treatment in another EU country can be much longer than in their home country (Yvonne Watts case - C-372/04 )
• Patients who buy refundable medical aids, such as spectacles, in another EU member state where they are cheaper (Nicolas Decker case - C-120/95 ).

In both cases, the Court ruled in favour of free choice for patients.

The matter is also of extreme urgency for patients with rare diseases, where sometimes only a few specialists within the EU are able to apply treatment. Such treatment tends to be costly and unique, for which reason health insurance schemes are often reluctant to pay for it. 

Ministers at the Health Council on 1 June 2006 adopted a "Statement of common values and principles in EU health systems", which underlined the importance of "protecting the values and principles that underpin health systems in the EU" and called in particular for an initiative on health services "ensuring clarity for European citizens about their rights and entitlements when they move from one EU member state to another and enshrining these values and principles in a legal framework in order to ensure legal certainty".

In 2006, the Commission launched a public consultation with a view to Community action on health services . The outcome was that there was a clear need for better information, more legal clarity and liability rules for patients crossing borders to obtain health care. This confirmed the Commission and the Council's view that there is a need for action at EU level on health services provided to mobile patients.