The free movement of patients and the right to cross-border medical care is a topical issue that since the development of the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU at the end of the 1990s has gained considerable interest. Not only is it a right which affects European citizens, it also concerns a domain where there is a conflict of competence between the national Member States and the European Union. Notwithstanding that healthcare is still, as confirmed in the European Treaties, a domain of national competence, the European Union has had a growing indirect influence through its case law on free movement of services and goods. While for decades the European Coordination Regulations on the social security of migrant workers has been considered the natural and only instrument dealing with cross-border healthcare, the case law of the Court has opened a new path directly based on the Treaty provisions. As a result, and striving for more legal certainty, a Patient Mobility Directive was enacted. This has led to a situation where today the rights to cross-border medical care can be found in three European instruments: the Coordination Regulations, the Patient Mobility Directive and the Treaty provisions. Needless to say this creates a complex legal situation.

In this book, which is the result of a joint PhD awarded by Ghent University in Belgium and the University of Szeged in Hungary, Gabriella Berki describes the different provisions of cross-border healthcare in a detailed way, emphasising the still existing gaps, the discrepancies (persons covered, rights obtained, tariffs of reimbursement, etc), the not always very successful interrelation between these texts, as well as the legal complexity, often leaving the patient in an unclear position.

The topic has already gained a great deal of attention in literature and Ms Berki is not the first author to describe these problems. However, in her book she approaches these problems in an innovative way. The original, fresh perspective from which the topic is dealt with is to her credit. She focuses on the rights concerned from a patient's perspective and scrutinises all provisions by asking one question: can we say that these provisions allow the patient to look for the best medical treatment regardless where in the European Union this may be (if possible at a favourable price)?