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As insured persons in an EU-social security system, you have the right to travel abroad for the purpose of accessing healthcare, also known as planned healthcare, especially in cases where the healthcare necessary is not provided domestically or its provision is not possible at the medically acceptable time for your state of health. In most cases, planned healthcare abroad requires the prior authorization of your statutory health insurance service.
In case of planned treatment you travel abroad with the explicit purpose of accessing medical treatment. Be aware that treatment will also be considered to be planned when you seek healthcare during your stay abroad, such as holiday, that is not medically necessary and that could be postponed until your return back home.
In many cases in order to be entitled to assumption of costs of the treatment abroad, prior authorisation from your statutory health insurance service in the country under whose social security system you are insured will be required before travelling abroad.
In Greece, EOPYY authorises cross-border healthcare and bears all or part of the costs of the care, as defined in Articles 32 and 33 of the Unified Health Benefits Regulation (EKPY), if the patient:
- cannot be treated in Greece either because the appropriate scientific means are not available or because the specific medical method of diagnosis and treatment required is not applied, provided that all of this is possible abroad and is not an experimental or research method;
or - cannot be treated in Greece in time and within the medically necessary time, and any delay in dealing with her/his condition jeopardises the patient’s health.
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