Freedom of Movement and Cross-Border Healthcare Entitlements. The Role of Member States of Origin in Challenging EU Citizenship

In the last decade, a great deal has been written on the contested nature of the welfare-EU migration nexus, highlighting how Member States of destination have introduced significant barriers and restrictions against EU migrants’ access to social protection. Nevertheless, the substantive rights of EU migrants are also dependent on the ‘export’ of social protection from their home EU country, in particular during a period of temporary stay or the initial phase of their residence in another Member State. And yet, the role of Member States of origin in shaping EU migrants’ social rights has received less attention so far. By focusing on the mechanisms of intra-EU coordination in the field of healthcare and its actual implementation from the perspective of the sending countries, this paper identifies different strategies adopted by Member States of origin in dealing with the healthcare rights of their citizens during a temporary stay in another country of the UE. These strategies – it is argued – structure unequal opportunities to free movement for EU migrants according to the Member State of origin, challenging the preconditions for EU citizens' mobility and, thus, their 'right to exit'.