On 11 March 2004, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs will debate an own-initiative report on health care and the care of the elderly.
The report was drawn up by Karin JÖNS (PES, D) as a response to the Commission Communication The future of health care and care for the elderly: guaranteeing accessibility, quality and financial viability, COM(2001) 774.
MEPs will debate the report’s recommendations on the role for the EU in supporting Member States’ strategies for health care.
MEPs in the committee call on the Commission to carry out a general review of patient mobility and examine how to strengthen the legal certainty of patients about their rights. The report calls on the Member States, in the event of long waiting lists and when treatment cannot be provided on their national territory in good time, to cooperate so as to provide jointly a high level of health and social care for all EU citizens.
MEPs warn against adopting a purely individual approach to patient mobility and the provision of health services across borders being adopted in the Commission’s proposals for an internal market in services. They call on the Commission to make broader and more balanced proposals in order to protect national health systems against an erosion of the social character of health care systems and the solidarity on which they are based.
The committee emphasises the importance of prevention and health promotion in helping health care systems to meet the challenges of an ageing European population. In seeking to achieve financial sustainability, Member States should fully explore the enormous cost-cutting potential of preventive strategies rather than simply making cutbacks, say MEPs in the committee. They also make a general call for all the present Member States and the accession countries to strengthen their own healthcare establishments - the Commission is asked to support the new member states in this through the public health programme.
