Modernisation of European Coordination of Sickness Benefits

Abstract

The coordination of sickness benefits by the new Regulation 883/2004 has been modernised to some extent, particularly in providing social protection for frontier workers and members of their families and for pensioners. The achievements of the new regulations do not, however, go beyond what could have been reached by a revision of Regulation 1408/71. The relationships between cross-border cost reimbursement and patient mobility, between Treaty rights based on the right to free movement of services and to coordination of social security are still unsettled. They are even further complicated by the proposed Directive on the exercise of patient rights in cross-border healthcare. The relationship between care benefits related to sickness and special non-contributory benefits needs further clarification and is not comprehensively governed by the regulation.