No doctors or medicines for those insured at EOPYY

The suffering of those insured at the National Organization for Health Services (EOPYY) continues, with contracted physicians on work retention and pharmacies not filling its prescriptions. Providing health care for millions of people in this country has become an arduous affair as the search for an EOPYY doctor for medications or tests requires strong nerves and is also costly, since the payment is made entirely out of the pocket of the insured.

 

Finance minister Yannis Stournaras will convene an interministerial meeting at 3pm today with ministers of Health and Labour Andreas Lykourentzos and Yannis Vroutsis to deal with the financing of EOPYY. 

The proposals of the Health ministry are either to offset EOPYY debts to pharmacists, physicians and other providers, with the amounts they owe to tax authorities, or give the insurance contributions of the Health industry directly to EOPYY and not through the Labour ministry as is currently the case. The advantage of the first proposal is that the EOPYY debt problem will be resolved immediately, but will not bring the precious cash liquidity required by the Organization to cover its insured medically. It is considered that the second proposal may meet the needs of the EOPYY but will probably create new black holes in pension funds, particularly in the coverage of their pensions. 

"The EOPYY financing does not depend on the Health minister’s will. Each month the ministry of Finance is transferring its obligation. We encounter great difficulties among the funds, because recession has affected their ability to collect contributions," Health minister Lykourentzos said in a radio interview. 

Health care proves to be an Odyssey for the insured 

Meanwhile, pharmacists have renewed their decision to continue with the protests, now claiming the amounts owed ​​since the establishment of the EOPYY, apart from the debts of this year. 

Thus, after the Athens pharmacists' unanimous decision to continue not giving credit to EOPYY indefinitely, the until recently more conciliatory Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Society (PFS) has also moved on the offensive, issuing a statement today that describes the ministry of Health leadership as "unreliable" with regard to fee payments. 

However, major problems can also be identified in the medical visits of the insured. According to data from EOPYY’s Doctors Association, 9 out of 10 doctors affiliated with the Organization are faced with work retention. For the insured this means they have to pay 10 euros for the doctor’s services, ie the amount of their fee from EOPYY.