Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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176. To ask the Minister for Health if he will permit payment directly to healthcare providers, as allowed by the 2011/24/EU Healthcare Directive Art 7(4), when it is in the patient's interest to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41938/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The EU Directive 2011/24/EU on Patients’ Rights in Cross Border Healthcare aims to ensure EU citizens may access safe and good quality healthcare across EU borders. Under the Directive, known as the Cross Border Healthcare Directive (CBD), insured patients are entitled to have costs of cross-border healthcare reimbursed if the healthcare in question is among the benefits to which they are entitled in their Member State of affiliation. The HSE endeavours to reimburse the cost of treatment incurred or the cost of providing such healthcare in the State, whichever is the lesser, to the applicant within 30 days of receipt of a claim for reimbursement, in line with Prompt Payment legislation.

Each Member State is free to set its own payment policy for cross-border healthcare; by means of reimbursement to the patient or by direct payment to the healthcare provider. That policy decision is a discretionary matter for each Member State under the Directive and, similar to the majority of Member States, Ireland has no plan to introduce a policy of direct payment to healthcare providers for healthcare provided in other Member States.