Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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628. To ask the Minister for Health when the cross-border directive will be put in to enable persons and children who are waiting for orthodontic treatment for an excessive period may obtain their treatment in other jurisdictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21342/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Directive on Patients’ Rights in Cross Border Healthcare provides rules for the reimbursement to patients’ of the cost of receiving treatment abroad, where the patient would be entitled to such treatment in their home Member State (Member State of Affiliation) and supplements the rights that patients already have at EU level through the legislation on the coordination of social security schemes (Regulation 883/04). The Directive seeks to ensure a clear and transparent framework for the provision of cross-border healthcare within the EU, for those occasions where the care patients seek is provided in another Member State rather than in their home country. However, it should be emphasised that the vast majority of EU patients receive healthcare in their own country and prefer to do so.

The Department of Health has prepared the necessary statutory provisions to implement the Directive and will have them in place shortly.