Non-Maltese EU citizens are likely receiving unequal treatment in Mater Dei Hospital because they are being asked to provide payslips to access treatment, the European Commission has concluded.
The issue was raised by a British national living in Malta who petitioned the European Parliament to investigate a possible breach of EU law.
She claimed that Mater Dei Hospital is discriminating on the basis of nationality and failing to guarantee equal access to health treatment.
According to her petition, the hospital requires EU citizens to provide payslips as proof of payment into Malta’s social security system while Maltese citizens are only asked to show their ID cards..
The European Parliament forwarded the petition to the EU Commission, which gave its opinion on the matter.
While EU member states are free to determine the details of their own national social security systems, common rules and principles that ensure the basic principles of equal treatment must be observed by national authorities when applying national laws.
“In other words, this means that non-Maltese EU, EEA or Swiss citizens should not be treated less favourably than the Maltese nationals are,” said the EU Commission opinion, published last month.
“The same conditions of eligibility for sickness benefits in kind as provided by the Maltese legislation apply to all insured persons regardless of their nationality.”
In this context, the commission noted that insured EU citizens living in Malta should have the same access conditions to health care as Maltese nationals when covered by Portable Document S1.
Similarly, EU citizens staying in Malta temporarily are entitled to necessary healthcare under the same conditions as persons insured in Malta within the public healthcare system, with the European health insurance card serving as an appropriate entitlement document.
“In view of the above, it seems that non-Maltese EU (as well as EEA and Swiss) and Maltese citizens are not treated equally in terms of the entitlement documents that have to be presented to the public healthcare provider prior to receiving healthcare treatment,” the commission said in its concluding remarks on the petition.
It has contacted Maltese authorities for further information on the issue and to ensure the principle of equal treatment is being safeguarded in public healthcare.
According to information provided to Times of Malta in 2019, non-Maltese citizens working in Malta must present proof of NI contributions (such as a payslip or an inland revenue receipt), while British citizens living in Malta may also present a reciprocal health agreement card or a certificate of entitlement to receive treatment.
People who are married to a Maltese citizen must present a marriage certificate, while the spouse of a person paying NI must present proof of contribution as well as a marriage certificate.