Making sense of human rights in the context of European Union health-care policy: individualist and communitarian views

Abstract

AbstractThis article discusses the European Union health-care policy from a human rights law point of view. It departs from the analysis of international and European human rights documents in order to identify core elements and principles associated with the right to access health-care services. These elements and principles are then used to distinguish between individualist and communitarian views of health-care rights and to argue that a human rights approach to the right to access health-care services promotes a communitarian view of this right whereas European Union health-care policy has been promoting an individualist view of this right.