Health Systems Governance in Europe: The Role of European Union Law and Policy

There is a fundamental contradiction at the core of health policy in the EU that makes it difficult to draw a line between EU and Member State responsibilities. This raises a number of difficult questions for policy makers and practitioners as they struggle to interpret both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ laws at EU and Member State level and to reconcile tensions between economic and social imperatives in health care. The book addresses these complex questions by combining analysis of the underlying issues with carefully chosen case studies that illustrate how broader principles are played out in practice. Each chapter addresses a topical area in which there is considerable debate and potential uncertainty. The book thus offers a comprehensive discussion of a number of current and emerging governance issues in EU health policy, including regulatory, legal, ‘new governance’ and policy-making dynamics, and the application of the legal framework in these areas.