The Treaties state that healthcare policy is a matter for Member States. Yet it has become increasingly clear that numerous aspects of healthcare fall within the ambit of European law. The inability of the EU’s legislative bodies to deal with the issues that arise, or to deal with them in a way that takes account of the specificities of health systems, has meant that the law-making function in this field has often been left to the European Court of Justice.

Policy-makers are increasingly aware of the potential deregulating dynamics of the application of the rules of the single market and are concerned that this might undermine the social principles upon which European healthcare systems and the European social model in general are based. The policy debate on how to reconcile the social objectives of healthcare systems with the application of the EU internal market rules has gained momentum once again with the Commission initiative to legislate on cross-border healthcare.

A team of high level experts has provided a comprehensive overview and multidisciplinary analysis of the developments related to EU law and policies that have an impact on national healthcare systems. The study provides policy-makers with a compelling and rigorous analysis of the real and potential impacts of EU-level policies on the national healthcare systems, highlighting the need to balance economic and social priorities. The findings of this study will soon be published in book form.

The aim of this conference is to present the main findings of the forthcoming book and to discuss them with policy-makers and social managers from the healthcare sector.