Brussels, 27/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 26 November, the Commission called on the Netherlands and Portugal to immediately provide it with notification of the complete transposition of rules regarding patient rights in the area of cross-border health care.
The Commission sent the two member states a reasoned opinion (second stage of the infringement procedure) calling on them to completely transpose the 2011/24/EC directive that grants patients the right to receive treatment in another member state and for the cost of this treatment to be paid in the country where their insurance scheme is based. Healthcare systems and providers are also obliged to provide patients with information they need for making an informed choice about the treatment they receive. This directive has only partially been transposed by these two countries, although they were obliged to have concluded this procedure before 25 October 2013. They now have two months to inform the Commission of the measures they have taken to rectify the situation. (IL)