AA. whereas many jobs in the healthcare and care sector in some Member States are still poorly paid, often not offering formal contracts and other basic labour rights and have low attractiveness because of the high risk of physical and emotional stress, the threat of burnout, and a lack of career development opportunities; whereas the sector offers little training and, moreover, its employees are predominantly ageing people, women and migrant workers; whereas care in the EU is often provided by informal unpaid carers, who themselves can be considered a vulnerable group due to increasing pressures to provide more sophisticated and techn ...[+++]ical levels of care; whereas a number of Member States lack a quality care service that is available to all regardless of income;

B. whereas the fundamental values of the EU should be respected even in a crisis situation and access to care, healthcare and social assistance should be seen as a basic right for all in the EU; whereas on the contrary, health, care and social services have been cut in the majority of Member States as a consequence of the implementation of austerity policies, thus undermining universal access and the quality of services;

In any event, if a Member State decides to establish a system of prior authorisation for assumption of costs of hospital or specialised care provided in another Member State in accordance with the provision of this Directive, the costs of such care provided in another Member State should also be reimbursed by the Member State of affiliation up to the level of costs that would have been assumed had the same healthcare been provided in the Member State of affiliation, without exceeding the actual costs of healthcare received.

1. Subject to the provisions of this Directive, in particular Articles 7, 8 and 9, the Member State of affiliation shall ensure that insured persons travelling to another Member State with the purpose of receiving healthcare there or seeking to receive healthcare provided in another Member State, will not be prevented from receiving healthcare provided in another Member State where the treatment in question is among the benefits provided for by the legislation, administrative regulations, guidelines and codes of conduct of the medical professions, of the Member State of affiliation to which the insured person is entitled.

patients and healthcare providers from other Member States are provided with information by the national contact point of the Member State of treatment, inter alia by electronic means, on quality standards and guidelines, including provisions on supervision, and on availability, quality and safety, treatment options, prices, outcomes of the healthcare provided, accessibility for persons with disabilities and details of the healthcare provider's registration status and insurance cover or other means of personal or collective protection ...[+++] with regard to their professional liability;

Thus, the Member State of affiliation is only bound to reimburse care provided in another Member State insofar as this care is paid for by its social security system when provided on its own territory. This care is reimbursed in accordance with the tariffs applicable in the Member State of affiliation and the conditions to which the Member States subject the provision of out-patient care on their territory, such as the requirement of prior consultation by a general practitioner before consulting a specialist, remain applicable in the case of care provided in another Member State.