Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-01-18-Speech-2-457-000"
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"en.20110118.19.2-457-000"2
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"Mr President, like others, I welcome this debate and this directive and I thank our rapporteur.
I am perhaps a little more cautious about it than some Members are. I think it would be wrong for the news to go out from this House that, from now on, all is well with cross-border healthcare. We still have much to debate and to put in place to make this work. Can I just quote – and I hope I do it accurately – the Commissioner’s own words? He said it was ‘clear that all Member States have a duty to invest at home, to provide their citizens with the healthcare they need’. I see him nodding in agreement, so I have got the quote correct.
It is good that we have that message to take back to Member States which are not doing this and to those which have long waiting lists. My own country, Ireland, is included here. The truth is that people would prefer to be treated close to home. That is why we have endless protests – and very valid protests – in Ireland about the closure of local hospitals and local services. That said, this directive may work if it forces Member States and their health providers to look at their services at home and to improve the provision of services to those who need them. They are going to have to pay for them anyway if our citizens take up the rights that this directive will give them.
In conclusion, people already have a right to travel for cross-border healthcare under Regulation No 883/2004 but they do not know about it. If they did, we would see many more cross-border patients moving to get their services. So let us inform our citizens of what they are entitled to, and let us hope that we do not have to travel across borders but that, if we do, we are able to do so freely and will have the services we need."@en1
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