The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, has designed a program that would allow persons to obtain healthcare from other nations without added expense or prior physician approval. Currently, people are only allowed to obtain emergency hospital care.

The European Parliament and EU governments must still approve the rules for them to take effect. Under the new rules, patients can claim up to the amount their treatment would have cost them in their home country.

The Commission has worked to implement this initiative as part of a wider "renewed social agenda" package aimed at clarifying citizens' rights in line with European Court of Justice rulings. The package also includes measures to improve access to jobs and fight discrimination and poverty. The health care program also reflects EU court's judges' decisions that freedom to cross EU borders for the best and quickest treatment is a right for all, and concerns that the EU is too remote from ordinary citizens' concerns.
The Commission also emphasizes that the reimbursement would be parallel to that which their home health authority would provide, thereby discouraging "health tourism."

Currently, only 1% of healthcare budgets are spent on cross-border healthcare and the number of people seeking treatment abroad is very small, the Commission says. If the cost of treatment abroad exceeds the cost of similar treatment at home, the patient will have to pay the difference, under the Commission's scheme.

The new plan benefits patients in a situation where the nearest hospital or specialist clinic is in a neighboring country, or where a needed treatment can be provided faster or more expertly abroad.

Member states may still require that their citizens get prior authorization for hospital treatment abroad, but only on a case-by-case basis, and the states would need to prove justification for limiting a patient's right right to foreign healthcare.

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