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Has Europe Forgotten About Health?

Sometimes, what is not said matters as much as what is said. Listening to the latest State of the Union address, one could not help noticing a remarkable absence. Europe spoke about competitiveness, security, defence, energy, migration and the future of our economy. All are important. All deserve attention. But what about health?

The Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union has defined its overarching priorities without placing healthcare among them. And the discussions on the next Multiannual Financial Framework raise similar concerns, with health at risk of losing its visibility as a standalone European investment priority.

Has Europe forgotten about health?

Of course, Europe has not stopped working on healthcare. Important initiatives are moving forward, including the European Health Data Space, pharmaceutical legislation and efforts to address the shortage of healthcare professionals, including in the European Parliament. But there is a fundamental difference between working on health-related files and making health a political priority.

Only a few years ago, the pandemic reminded us that there can be no resilient Europe without resilient health systems. Have we already forgotten those lessons?

At the same time, Europe rightly wants to become more competitive. But health is not a cost competing with competitiveness. It is a condition for competitiveness.

A healthier population means a more productive workforce, greater participation in the labour market and more resilient societies. Healthcare is also a major European economic ecosystem, bringing together hospitals, pharmaceuticals, medical technologies, biotechnology, digital health, artificial intelligence and research.

Health should not merely be addressed through other European priorities; it deserves recognition as a strategic priority in its own right.

This is also why Europe must look at healthcare systems as a whole. Public and private hospitals face the same demographic pressures, depend on the same scarce healthcare professionals, must undertake the same digital and green transitions and are exposed to the same cybersecurity threats.

The workforce challenge is perhaps the clearest example. Europe cannot address shortages of doctors, nurses and other professionals while overlooking a significant part of the hospitals delivering care. Workforce planning, skills, training and professional mobility must involve all healthcare providers.

The same applies to the European Health Data Space, cybersecurity, sustainability and innovation. These transformations require substantial investment. If Europe expects hospitals to become more digital, more secure, greener and more innovative, it must also create the financial conditions that allow them to make those investments.

And European policies and funding instruments should be based on fair and transparent conditions, recognising the contribution of healthcare providers to common European objectives, regardless of whether they are publicly or privately owned.

Many of today’s challenges cannot be addressed by Member States acting alone. Europe therefore needs renewed political ambition for health.

Health must be visible in the European budget, central to the competitiveness agenda and recognised as an essential component of European security and resilience. And all healthcare providers must be recognised as partners in building accessible, innovative and sustainable health systems.

Above all, European policy must reflect what citizens have understood for a long time: few things matter more than being able to receive the right care, at the right time, when it is needed. It is time to put health back where European citizens already place it: among Europe’s highest priorities.

On September 23rd, I was in Madrid for the ceremony of the first edition of the Spanish Private Hospitality Awards. What a magnificent demonstration of the excellence of private hospital and clinic projects and the mobilization of different healthcare stakeholders. Congratulations ASPE, and I hope other countries can follow this good example.

Oscar GASPAR
UEHP President