SUBJECT

Title

Health policy in the European Union

Type of instruction

lecture

Level

master

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences

Part of degree program

Health Policy, Planning and Financing (Specialization in Health Economics) MSc (part time)

Credits

4

Recommended in

Semester 2

Typically offered in

Spring semester

Course description

The purpose of this course is

  • to introduce students to the history of European integration, the EU’s basic principles and institutions, the operation of its institutional system, the legislative framework and the EU’s decision making mechanisms,
  • to explore the position and the complex role of health, its relation to other sector policies in the EU as well as the fundamental health policy issues and their EU dimension, and
  • to discuss the implications of global challenges, to analyse and understand the impacts of different EU-level sector policies on health as well as the influence of certain EU-level health policy initiatives on national health systems, and
  • to provide an overview of and an insight to main EU-level processes, current challenges and opportunities in the field of health.

The course covers the following main topics:

  • Introduction: the history of European integration, main principles, the institutional system of the European Union and its operation; the EU-level decision-making process; Union policies and legislation, primary and secondary law;
  • EU Economic policy, main characteristics, state of play
  • EU dimension of health: health in the EU treaties and in other Union level sources; Union and national competencies, the impact of the internal market on the health sector;
  • Patient mobility in the EU: the theoretical context of social security - historic evolution and modernisation of social security systems, harmonisation or coordination? – coordination regulations; requesting and receiving health services in another Member State – precedent judgments of the European Court of Justice;
  • Cross-border health care services in the EU: social security coordination law vs new demand for a new directive on cross-border health care services; main challenges and concerns; similarities and differences of providing health care services in another Member State according to social security coordination law and the directive; reimbursement practices; transposition of the directive – legislative measures for incoming and outgoing patients;
  • Free movement of health professionals and its impact – Mutual recognition of diplomas: historic overview of the realisation of the freedom of movement of persons; European aspects of migration, migration trends, the impact of enlargement, restrictions of the free movement of workers; freedom of establishment; historic overview of the evolution of mutual recognition of diplomas, Union rules, types of recognition, regulated-non regulated professions, Directive 2005/36/EC and its modification; current situation of the human resources for health within the EU, Green Paper on health professionals;
  • EU Health Programmes earlier and nowadays – EU Health Programmes, EU Health Strategy: historic overview of the evolution of the EU Health Programmes and their comparative analysis (main characteristics, implementation)
  • Health in All Policies – EU Strategy for reducing health inequalities: Union and other international approaches and their mutual impacts; preconditions of health, social determinants of health; the impact of the global financial-economic crisis on social determinants of health and on health inequalities;
  • Main Union-level processes in the field of health, health policy: original objectives and results of the Lisbon Strategy (2000-2010), the impact of the global financial-economic crisis on health, health systems; EU2020 Strategy – the role of health in the Strategy & implementation of the first 4 European Semester; Social dimension of the EMU; Important health priorities of the EU Presidencies; current challenges and future prospects – what is the way forward?
Readings

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