Rejection of the assumption of the costs of outpatient treatment abroad

Facts

C., born in 1991, suffers from spastic tetraparesis. The IV Office of the Canton of Ticino has recognized his right to integration health measures for the treatment of his congenital disability. In 2004, his parents requested the administration to assume the costs of an outpatient rehabilitation therapy carried out at the X. Clinic in Germany. The IV Office rejected the application, considering that the conditions for treatment abroad were not met. The Insurance Court of the Canton of Ticino subsequently dismissed C.'s appeal against this decision.

Considerations

The Federal Court confirmed the rejection of the assumption of the costs of outpatient treatment in Germany. According to case law, integration measures must be applied in Switzerland and only exceptionally abroad. In the present case, the conditions for full assumption of the costs of treatment abroad were not met, as there were facilities in Switzerland capable of providing a simple and rational treatment of C.'s illness. The fact that the German doctor had recommended the treatment at the X. Clinic and that it had had positive results does not justify the application of the exception provided for "other valid reasons".

Furthermore, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the free provision of services in the healthcare sector is not applicable to the present…