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EU Health Law and Policy and the Eurozone crisis

The economic crisis has had an impact on health law and policy in the EU. This can be observed through areas of primary EU interest in the healthcare sector, namely free movement of healthcare professionals and regulation of medicines, but also access to healthcare. This impact has been visible through the increase in cost sharing and privatisation of parts of healthcare provision in Member States subjected to the EU instruments of economic governance, outflow of healthcare professionals from the States hit hardest by the crisis and efforts to reduce prices of medicines in various Member States. It is impossible to understand EU health law and policy within the context of the crisis without analysing the problems national (public) healthcare systems are facing in trying to ensure access to medical treatments for their population. The economic crisis has generally affected their capabilities of providing social healthcare coverage to patients, especially in Member States under EU fiscal control. The EU has addressed these issues, but that reaction has only stressed the limited mechanisms the EU has at its disposal to influence the level of health protection within different Member States, when compared to mechanisms of imposing fiscal consolidation upon the countries concerned. Out of the three scenarios of future development, the first one, consisting of stronger integration, seems the least likely. A prognosis on which of the second two (status quo or disintegration) will prevail is hard to make, meaning that the future remains uncertain, to say the least.

EU, health law, Eurozone crisis

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