Session I
12:15- 13:30

Are projections of a healthier Europe becoming a nightmare scenario for EU finance ministers? Advances in medical science together with improved healthcare have in the last 40 years revolutionised European economies, and in the coming decades may bankrupt their public finances. Average healthcare spending in the EU rose from 5.3% of GDP in 1970 to 8.6% in 1998, an increase of 63%, and is predicted to rise by a further 30% by 2030. Experts say this is partly due to the cost of our ageing societies, but also to the supply-side factor of new treatments and techniques becoming available. How should EU governments restructure their healthcare policies to accommodate this new longevity and turn it into a benefit both for society and for the European economy?

• Androulla Vassiliou, EU Commissioner for Health
• Elizabeth Teisberg, Associate Professor at the Virginia University and Co-Author with Michael Porter of the book 'Redefining Healthcare'
• Marion Caspers-Merk, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health, Germany
• Eric Cornut, Head Novartis Pharma Region Europe

Co-moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe, and Shirin Wheeler, EU Correspondent, BBC
 

What national schemes should be EU "best practise"?

The EU’s Health Commissioner, Cyprus’ Androulla Vassiliou, is backing a plan to improve Europeans’ access to treatment elsewhere in the Union, while preventing any negative impact on national health services. Officials in Brussels stress that there is no thought of harmonising national systems, but add that single market rules apply to health too. The Commission argues that EU-level measures could help create economies of scale, and would thus help to underpin national health policies. Given the Netherlands’ recent success in braking health costs, and the fact that large differences in the efficiencies of national healthcare systems remain, how much more should EU states be looking to copy one another’s best practices? What are the lessons to be drawn from healthcare reforms in countries such as Austria and Estonia that have risen fast up the Health Consumer Powerhouse’s European Health Index?

• Louis-Jean Calloc'h, Vice-President of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME)
• Josep Figueras, Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and Head of the WHO European Centre on Health Policy
• Adam Fronczak, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Health, Poland
• Johan Hjertqvist, President, Health Consumer Powerhouse
• Hans Maarse, Chairman of the Department of Health Organization, Policy and Economic, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands

Co-moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe, andShirin Wheeler, EU Correspondent, BBC
 

Free and fair competition is widely held in the EU as the best way to boost innovation and improve efficiency. Yet in the healthcare sector patients have little choice on health insurance and treatment. Even in the field of e health, restricted competition and investment are preventing productivity increases that information and communications technologies could yield. Is freer intra-EU competition in healthcare really incompatible with the European social model? What are the political obstacles to healthcare reform, and how might they be overcome? How far could the Commission’s plans for a “common EU e-health area” take us towards a common market in medical services and treatment?

• Charlotte Cederschiöld MEP, Member of the European Parliament Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection
• Robert Madelin, European Commission Director-General for Health and Consumers
• Anders Olauson, President, European Patients' Forum
• Antonyia Parvanova, Vice-Chair of the Health Committee, National Assembly, Bulgaria
• Marcel Smeets, Director-General, Association Internationale de la Mutualité (AIM)

Co-moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe, and Shirin Wheeler, EU Correspondent, BBC