Hard road for EU health reforms
20th December 2007
It may sound like a brave new world for healthcare in the EU, but the latest blueprint is bound to face substantial changes before it is agreed by governments.
As far as funding operations abroad is concerned, the UK Department of Health has already made it clear that the National Health Service (NHS) will decide what it will pay for and what it will not.
The problem for the commission is that it has had to respond to court rulings telling EU governments they had to fund treatment abroad if the patient was facing an undue delay.
Indeed, the commission points out that it was EU health ministers themselves who asked for a draft directive, the BBC reports.