Etudes par pays volume 2, PDF, 346 p., 1,4 Mo - Femise

11873_2002 Study D2: Poverty, Informal Sector, Health and Labour
general practitioners (Kathimerini, 22.6.2003). More specifically, the above
study finds a ‘surplus’ of 34 per cent of special physicians and a great
shortage of general and family doctors who should increase six times if this
gap is to be bridged. Nurses and related personnel are also lacking and
should be doubled to come to a satisfactory level. This study is also pointing
out the lop-sided emphasis on the NHS hospitals and the neglect of
preventive efforts concerning the risks of the modern way of living
(smoking, lack of exercise, overweight, drugs, etc.), which are responsible,
as it is noted, for the 90 per cent of premature deaths. Finally, the study
recommends the connection between the health care services and the social
services, given that several health problems, especially the chronic ones, are
related to social factors.
One very important aspect of the health insurance in Greece is the inequality
in insurance benefits among different insurance funds, and consequently, the
different burden on family budgets for health cost. Among the 40 or so
health insurance funds, 5 are the major ones (Table 4). Each one of these
funds has its own rules and regulations; some funds are healthier and more
generous to their beneficiaries, others weaker and less generous. This has
implications on health care delivery, particularly with respect to the primary
health care. Despite the efforts made by the government for the unification
of some of these funds, the task is difficult, facing the opposition of the
beneficiaries of the more wealthy funds.
The IKA that is the major fund for private employees, having by far the
largest number of beneficiaries, of the order of 5.5 million people, has, as
we noted, its own polyclinics for the delivery of health care. However, the
quality of services offered and the accessibility of patients to this system is
not satisfactory. In a survey, it was found that 40 per cent of patients at the
IKA clinics visit at least once a year a private physician either because of
lack of confidence (41.1 per cent) or for getting a second opinion (19.4 per
cent) (Theodorou, 1993, p.127).
FONDAZIONE CENSIS
135