Di Bartolomeo says “services provided in health and social security are not considered as commercial services”

Brussels, 14/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - As part of the Luxembourg presidency of the Council of the EU, the Luxembourg department of social security, together with the Luxembourg Association for Social Security Bodies (ALOSS, the Higher Luxembourg Mutuality Council (CSML) and the International Mutual Association (AIM) organised a conference on “Access to Health Car in the Single Market: the Impact on Legal and Complementary Systems”. The conference took part on 8 April in Luxembourg under the presidency of the Luxembourg health and social security minister Mars Di Bartolomeo. It examined the impact of Community law on health care and social protection on the basis of a report by Professor Yves Jorens at the University of Ghent (see http://www.mss.etat.lu ).

Opening the conference Mr Di Bartolomeo highlighted the fact that services provides in health care and social security are not considers as “commercial services” and that they have to respond to demands such as “free access, quality and solidarity”. The work was organised into three sessions, indicated a Presidency press release: free movement of patients and health professionals in the context of financial responsibility for health care spent in other Member States and the possibility of a health provider in a Member State to provide services on the territory of another Member State; the relation between the rights of competition and health care; possibilities for describing health care as part of “social services of general interest” to exclude it form the field of competition law.

Welcoming this presidency initiative in a press release AIM underlined that in order to ensure better support to Member States in their mission of guaranteeing adequate health protection to citizens, a “more globalised and authentic European health care policy” is required integrating all components. According to AIM, the Directorates General for health care and social affairs at the European Commission should pool their forces and become the central point of all Community health care activities.