Book review: Free Movement of Patients in the EU
| Author | Tomislav Sokol |
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1388262720910543 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
References
Schwab, K. (2016) The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Geneva: World Economic Forum.
Schwab, K. (2018) Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. A Guide to Building a
Better World, London: Penguin Random House UK, ix - xi.
World Bank. (2019) World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work, Washington
D.C. World Bank.
Author biography
Abhishek obtained a master’s degree in Development and Labour Studies at the Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He has worked as a research associate at the Dattopant
Thengdi Foundation and is currently pursuing his PhD at the Centre for European Studies at the
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi/India. He also writes for various newspapers. E-mail:
abhishek.jnu.ac@gmail.com
Gabriella Berki, Free Movement of Patients in the EU, Cambridge: Intersentia, 2018, 256 pages,
ISBN 978-1-78068-575-5.
Reviewed by: Tomislav Sokol, Catholic University of Croatia, Zagreb.
DOI: 10.1177/1388262720910543
Patient mobility has been a politically and legally interesting and divisive topic in the last twenty
years. Ever since the first judgments in Kohll and Decker by the Court of Justice of the European
Union (CJEU), the issue of patients being entitled to access healthcare outside their state of social
protection (competent state), paid for by the latter, has evoked a lot of commentary and scholarly
analysis focusing on differe nt aspects of this entitlement. These aspects have included le gal,
political and economic issues, from the points of view of patients, healthcare providers, national
health insurers and European Union institutions. Gabriella Berki’s book approaches this issue from
the patient’s point of view. The main research question in this sense asks how the current landscape
of European cross-border patient mobility legislation can be improved to better serve patients’
needs and interests while also respecting the responsibilities of the EU Member States.
Berki tackles the issue by focusing on different legal sources, especially EU secondary legis-
lation (Regulation 883/2004 and Directive 2011/24) and the case law of the European Court of
Justice. Scholarly literature is also used, primarily to define basic concepts and to provide valuable
additional analyses and points of view on certain controversial elements of cross-border healthcare.
The book is divided into five chapters, further divided into sub-chapters, which cover basic
aspects of the free movement of patients across national borders in the European Union. The first
chapter provides an overview of the development of cross-border movement and crucial legal
sources. It explains the main concepts used, for example cross-border healthcare, border-crossing
patients, patient mobility, harmonisation, and coordination. It concludes that European citizens
have the right, if they fulfil prescribed conditions, to obtain healthcare benefits abroad funded by
Book reviews 85
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