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Are you travelling to Greece with the explicit purpose to receive healthcare, also known as planned healthcare? Ask your statutory health insurance service or check your health insurance policy to understand your rights. Here is a guide to planned healthcare in Greece for EU patients.
As an EU citizen you have the right to access planned healthcare in Greece through:
The S2/E112 route
In the case of planned treatment, this is a funding arrangement between your statutory health insurance fund and the public or EOPYY-contracted private healthcare provider in Greece. Please note that even with the S2/E112 route you may be required to pay part of the healthcare costs depending on national law. If you wish to use this route, you must get prior authorization from your national health insurance fund before receiving treatment. In this case, your entitlement to treatment derives from the European Regulations (EC) 883/2004 & 987/2009 for the coordination of social security systems of the EU member states.
Your entitlement to planned treatment in Greece is limited to the benefits provided by the national law as prescribed in EKPY (Unified Health Benefits Regulation) and you have access to healthcare professionals that are public (ESY) or EOPYY-contracted with the public healthcare system in Greece.
You should be informed that when receiving the services of an EOPYY-contracted private provider, you will be required to pay privately for specialized doctors’ fees and part (30%) of the DRG (classification of medical treatments for the purpose of reimbursing hospitals for each case in a given category with a fixed fee) charged as these are costs that are not covered by the Greek national health system and are paid by the insured person.
There is no patients’ co-payment when receiving healthcare at ESY-hospitals under the Greek health benefits package.
Important! For more information on how S2 holders access the Greek statutory health system, you may contact EOPYY-International Relations at the email: d12.t2@eopyy.gov.gr.
The EU Directive 2011/24/EU route on cross-border healthcare.
This is a funding arrangement between you and your statutory health insurance fund. Using this route means you will have to pay the costs of your treatment abroad upfront and then claim the reimbursement of costs from the national health insurance fund when you return back home. If you are entitled to that healthcare at home, then you will be reimbursed by your home country. The reimbursement will be up to the cost of that treatment at home.
For some treatments you’ll need to get prior authorization. You may contact your statutory health insurance service or the national contact point for cross-border healthcare in your country.
In this case, your entitlement to treatment derives from the Directive 2011/24/EU on patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare.
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Useful information sources