Early detection screening - PMO, who do think you are kidding?
But the truth is different; it is only a question of immediate cost savings, and in fact the screening programmes have been drastically reduced to the detriment of staff health! And we thought the staff was "the Commission's most important and valuable resource" as defined by Vice-President Georgieva (Commission en direct, issue 21, pag. 46).
R&D takes this unwelcome change very seriously and its elected members in the LSC are committed to fight strongly for the reintroduction of the regime as it was previously.
PMO's miracle
"Because prevention is better than cure", as stated in the PMO newsletter itself, "the screening programmes have been adapted to reflect this" and "some diseases, such as cancer, can be treated more easily if they are detected early".
At PMO they can clearly do miracles! They are able to improve prevention by reducing the level and the frequency of examinations compared to what was available until 30th June 2015.
R&D's analysis of the "improvements"
Up to 45 years NO ACCESS to the programmes at all, since:
- the programme is accessible "only for members not in active employment at one of the European institutions, as well as for children over the age of 18."
and
- for those not in active employment, i.e. partners and children over the age of 18 years old, the administrative notice n. 25-2015 of 13.10.2015 states: "JSIS members' attention is drawn to the fact that JSIS beneficiaries with top-up coverage (in complementarity) will be required to request reimbursement from their primary insurance scheme before claiming supplementary reimbursement from JSIS for the cost of their health screening examinations"
- program for children below 16 years old completely disappeared. With the current rules children below 18 years old don't have access to any program.
Between 45 and 59 years all the most relevant analyses and checks DISAPPEARED:
- All women – no annual gynaecological visit any more with the PAP test (the same rules as stated above, i.e. for staff members not in active employment)
- Women between 45 and 59 years – not any more: 1. internist examination, 2. cardiac examination, 3. gynaecological examination, 4. PAP test, 5. mammography, 6. X-ray of chest, 7. complete ultrasound of abdomen, 8. ultrasound of breasts, 9. ORL examination (nose, ear, throat), 10. colonoscopy
- Men between 45 and 59 years – not any more: 1. internist examination, 2. cardiac examination allowed only in certain conditions, 3. ORL examination (nose, ear, throat), 4. X-ray of chest, 5. complete ultrasound of abdomen, 6. urological examination, colonoscopy (from the age of 50 allowed three faecal occult blood tests or one virtual colonoscopy).
In practice, what remains is the same routine check that we already do annually at our internal medical service, i.e. some blood and urine analyses, visit with general practitioner and ophthalmological examination. Nothing else.
R&D's position on these changes
We wonder if this new implementation is in contradiction with the art. 72 of the Staff Regulations, as also confirmed by Court ruling n.T-191/01 stating:
"….By the very fact that, pursuant to Article 72 of the Staff Regulations, the costs of screening for serious illnesses are reimbursed at 100%...."
The aim of that provision is thus to encourage screening for serious illnesses in order to ensure effective treatment at an early stage, thereby helping to prevent both the development of serious illnesses in the interests of the patient, and higher treatment costs for the Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme."
"…. would be contrary to the requirement for effective preventive medicine and, consequently, to the sound management of the health protection scheme provided for in the Staff Regulations, in keeping with the aim pursued by Article 72(1) of the Staff Regulations."
These new rules are also in apparent contradiction with the recently widely advertised Fit@work programme, according to which "The strategy would be to focus on disease prevention and health promotion…." because "The financial costs of absences and invalidity, the productivity losses, and the individual's suffering due to health issues are also potentially significant."
Furthermore, PMO made these changes in secret without any consultation of the staff representatives, based only on the suggestions of the Scheme's Medical Council as the following extract from the CGAM annual report for the year 2014 reads: "the Medical Council has decided to bring the overlap between the employer's obligations and the preventive examinations to an end, thus resulting in a clear cost reduction with regards to EU staff in activity (aged up to 45 years). On the substance of programmes, one should note that some examinations will be performed in a more cost-effective way. From 1st July 2015, complementarity will also fully apply to preventive medicine, meaning that the JSIS will only reimburse to beneficiaries under complementary cover what their primary insurance doesn't cover."
To the contrary R&D believe this is a false economy - a possibly reduced saving today may become a higher cost tomorrow to the detriment of all our colleagues
Property abroad: Italian tax declaration or not?
Lately we received
information that colleagues who have consulted a local tax adviser (commercialista)
regarding the obligation to make an Italian tax declaration possibly received
the wrong advice. In the cases we are aware of the tax adviser told these
colleagues that he or she had to declare to the Italian authorities all
properties in their possession in countries other than Italy. We believe this
advice is only valid if the colleague has his or her domicile for tax purposes
in Italy, but it is wrong in case the domicile for tax purposes is not in
Italy.
According to Article 13 (ex Article
14) of the PROTOCOL
(No 7) ON THE PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION for Statutory
staff their domicile for tax purposes is the country of domicile for tax
purposes at the time of entering the service of the Union (in practice it is
typically the country of your last tax declaration before entering the service
- if in doubt it is clearly indicated in the personal file in Sysper).
Furthermore, both the country of your actual residence and the country of
domicile for tax purposes must consider that you have maintained your domicile
in the latter country (provided that it is a member of the Union) - therefore,
if you have your domicile for tax purposes in an EU country other than Italy
you should do your tax declaration there and not in Italy.
To add insult to injury, not only has the
incorrect advice been given - leading to possible issues with the Italian
authorities - our unfortunate colleagues have also been billed for the advice
and the work. We therefore take the opportunity to remind our colleagues that
not all local tax advisers will have the necessary experience or knowledge to
deal with special situations such as these, so always be careful and seek help
from well-informed sources.
A very useful
document containing advice on many taxation matters related to EU personnel,
"EUROPEAN UNION OFFICIALS AND TAXATION, IMPACT OF THE PROTOCOL ON
PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES ON THEIR TAX STATUS", may be found in Myintracomm.
A EU Tribunal ruling that affects promotions and careers of all AST and AD grades?
In
the Anagnostu Case (F-72/11) the Tribunal stipulated that the Commission
has incorrectly applied the rules concerning the
promotions rates imposed by the Staff Regulations. Indeed, DG HR has for
years applied arbitrary promotion rates, which have been systematically and
unlawfully imposed on
the Joint Promotion Committee since 2004. R&D members decisively contributed to the collective action,
which follows exactly the position R&D has been advocating for years in the Joint Promotion
Committee as well as through communications to the staff and letters to both the Commission and the Administration (see Promotion
exercise and quotas). R&D remains
convinced that this is serious problem that affects considerably the staff
of ALL
grades and categories and will continue to act in close collaboration with other Trade Unions
and the Central Staff Committee in order to undertake all collective, necessary and urgent actions to bring the issue yet again to the awareness of the College.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
No comments :
Post a Comment