Markos Kyprianou, EU health commissioner, told the Financial Times that he would act to implement the right of patients to travel for treatment across the 25-member bloc in the wake of recent court judgments.

While so-called health tourism is on the rise, many EU members have argued that medical services fall outside the scope of its single market.

But the European Court of Justice has found that they do not. In a ruling in May on the case of British woman Yvonne Watts, who went to France to avoid a year-long wait for a hip operation, the court said patients facing “undue delay” should be entitled to be treated in other countries and paid for by their national health systems.
Mr Kyprianou said: “The internal market applies to health services. People can shop around.”

Opening the market could provide lucrative opportunities for private providers to lure clients from across Europe.
The move would have big budget implications for countries such as the UK, which effectively rations healthcare by limiting capacity and having long waiting lists. EU health spending rose from an average 7 per cent of gross domestic product to 7.7 per cent between 2000 and 2003.

On Tuesday Mr Kyprianou will launch a debate, requested by member states, in the European Commission that will lead to proposals within months for how the market should function.

“We need to give people information. For example, if you want a hip replacement, where do you go, which country? There must be a better way to help the citizen make a choice,” he said. “On the other hand, can a receiving country turn down a patient?”

About 1 per cent of operations across the EU involve people from other countries. Defining “undue delay” will be one thorny issue. “I am not going to produce a list of time limits,” Mr Kyprianou said. There is also the question of liability if an operation goes wrong and who should pay for follow-up treatment when the patient returns home.
Patients could only travel for treatment that would be available in their own country and at the same price. They would have to meet extra costs themselves.

Jim Murray, director of European consumer lobby group BEUC, welcomed the debate. “Patients need much more clarification of their rights,” he said.

Although José Manuel Barroso, the liberal president of the European Commission, wants to go further. Many members insisted health be excluded from a recently-agreed EU directive to liberalise trade in services.

By Andrew Bounds and George Parker in Brussels
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006 / Published: September 4 2006 22:00