03/06/2013 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 03.06.2013 - In a report on equal access to health care adopted unanimously today by the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, the rapporteur Jean-Louis Lorrain (France EPP/CD) complains about the level of fraud and corruption, and calls for measures to combat corruption to be devised in close co-operation with the Group of States against Corruption. According to a recent report by the European Health Care Fraud and Corruption Network, of the thousand billion euros spent on health services in the EU, €56 billion are lost to fraud and corruption.
The rapporteur also warns against financial, geographic and language barriers, socio-economic inequalities and certain migration and security policies which pay little attention to health needs. In his view, everyone living in Europe should have equal access to health care regardless of their financial situation, residence status or place of residence.
He invites the member states in particular to reduce the proportion of costs payable by the most disadvantaged patients and promote increased use of generic medicines, along with a series of other measures designed to ensure that the fundamental right to health is respected, particularly in times of crisis. Lastly, he urges those member states which have not yet done so to sign and ratify the European Social Charter.