Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figure
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Health systems governance in Europe: the role of European Union law and policy
- 2 Health care and the EU: the law and policy patchwork
- 3 EU regulatory agencies and health protection
- 4 The hard politics of soft law: the case of health
- 5 Public health policies
- 6 Fundamental rights and health care
- 7 EU competition law and public services
- 8 EU competition law and health policy
- 9 Public procurement and state aid in national health care systems
- 10 Private health insurance and the internal market
- 11 Free movement of services in the EU and health care
- 12 Enabling patient mobility in the EU: between free movement and coordination
- 13 The EU legal framework on e-health
- 14 EU law and health professionals
- 15 The EU pharmaceuticals market: parameters and pathways
- Bibliography
- Index
Foreword
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figure
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Health systems governance in Europe: the role of European Union law and policy
- 2 Health care and the EU: the law and policy patchwork
- 3 EU regulatory agencies and health protection
- 4 The hard politics of soft law: the case of health
- 5 Public health policies
- 6 Fundamental rights and health care
- 7 EU competition law and public services
- 8 EU competition law and health policy
- 9 Public procurement and state aid in national health care systems
- 10 Private health insurance and the internal market
- 11 Free movement of services in the EU and health care
- 12 Enabling patient mobility in the EU: between free movement and coordination
- 13 The EU legal framework on e-health
- 14 EU law and health professionals
- 15 The EU pharmaceuticals market: parameters and pathways
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
It is a great pleasure to introduce this volume edited by Elias Mossialos, Govin Permanand, Rita Baeten and Tamara Hervey. It is a volume which continues the success of two earlier books commissioned by the Belgian government and published by Peter Lang Publishing Group in 2002. The topic of this contribution is a crucial one. Indeed, one can hardly imagine a subject closer to the lives of European Union (EU) citizens than an exploration of how EU law and policy has influenced, and will continue to influence, the health systems of the 27 Member States. This two-dimensional perspective means that this work will certainly be studied with great interest by all concerned with the functioning of the EU as well as by those wanting to discover more about national health systems.
In principle, in light of Article 152 of the EC Treaty, national authorities are solely responsible for health care. Yet, though the Member States are free to decide how to deliver and organize health services, they must do so in compliance with other aspects of the Treaty, in particular with the fundamental freedoms and elements of competition law. Put differently, national health systems are not enclaves of national sovereignty insulated from European market integration. While EU legislators may not regulate health care as a means of promoting social cohesion, they may, however, enact legislation relating to those aspects affecting the establishment and functioning of the internal market. Given that national health systems are deeply rooted in social solidarity and welfare, the “constitutional asymmetry” (to borrow the term used by Fritz Scharpf)laid down in the Treaty gives rise to important tensions.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Health Systems Governance in EuropeThe Role of European Union Law and Policy, pp. xii - xivPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010