Thursday, May 23, 2013

EU visitors to Spain denied hospital care

There's a lot of good points about living here, including the usually very good public health system, but on top of the privatisation that is slowly going on there are some other worrying signs, as explained in this article...

The European Commission has warned that it may launch infringement action against Spain unless the country's hospitals stop refusing emergency treatment to European Union citizens on holiday. The Commission is receiving reports, concerning 20 different hospitals, of treatment being refused to foreign EU nationals unless they pay on the spot. 
 
Under EU law, member states must offer foreign EU citizens who present a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) the same treatment as nationals for emergency medical care. The bill should then be submitted to the health authorities of the patient's home country.”

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