Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-25-Speech-4-039"
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"en.20080925.4.4-039"2
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"The social landscape of Europe has changed. We are faced with new challenges which require a modernisation of the European social model. The healthcare landscape of Europe is also changing. Success rates in the case of some diseases are on the increase, as is spending on running healthcare systems. However, citizens encounter huge differences in the quality of healthcare, both between the Member States and within them. Cancer survival rates differ by as much as 10% between the Member States.
I welcome the European Commission’s intention to look closely at the issue of healthcare within the framework of a renewed social agenda. At the same time, however, I regret that the increased attention paid to citizens’ health-related rights has come about solely as a result of a judgment of Court of Justice. I speak as someone who has himself survived cancer and who knows of cases where patients have been told ‘there is nothing more we can do for you’ in one country and received effective care in another.
Freedom of movement means the ability to choose. The ability to choose leads to greater competition and thus greater quality and possibly also lower costs. I am sure that the directive on patient mobility will enliven Europe and have many positive consequences. Our common goal is health for all. The directive on cross-border healthcare undoubtedly means greater closeness to citizens, who are not interested so much in debates on competences than in the shortest route to health – naturally one which is clearly signposted.
The most successful European policy is policy which citizens feel in their pockets, as was the case with the roaming directive. In the case of the directive on cross-border healthcare, citizens will not feel it directly in their pockets, at least not initially, but they will have greater choice for the same money. And that is not a bad feeling, particularly where health is involved."@en1
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