As it transformed from a common market into an integrated political unit, the European Union began to be seen as not only an economic union, but also a social union. The evolution of health care in the EU as one element of this turn to a social Europe has been particularly remarkable given that health care was originally expected to remain under national, rather then European, jurisdiction. Nonetheless, given the logical (if unforeseen) development of EU case law, numerous soft-law initiatives led by member states (and facilitated by Brussels), and policy shifts required through the EU’s semester system of financial governance, health care across EU member states gradually became more deeply integrated than was initially anticipated. In recent years, however, economic crises (and the neoliberal responses to them), nationalist political movements, and even secessionist threats have strained this relationship. This volume examines the future of social Europe through the lens of health care: in what ways has the focus on “health” served to fuse political attitudes into a more European sensibility? Has this centripetal momentum become constrained by underlying structural impediments, or even more seriously eroded by recent political events? Or - more provocatively - can the allure of a stable and sustainable European framework for national health care systems serve as a potential counterweight to the centrifugal dynamics of a turbulent Europe?
