THE EU AND THE PHENOMENON OF CROSS-BORDER HEALTHCARE - LOOKING FOR THE "WAY"

The presented paper deals with the selected issues of providing healthcare in the EU mainly from the perspective of cross-border healthcare. The author suggests some of the historical milestones of the topic of cross-border healthcare and stresses the relevance of the decisions of the European Court of Justice/Court of the EU to this end. At the same time, the author looks at the topic from the perspective of public administration (administrative law) and introduces the reader to the main substantive elements of the issue (e.g. types of healthcare in the EU law). In the final part of the paper, the author analyses the issue of prior authorisation as set forth by the Directive 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the application of patients' rights in cross-border healthcare.