Private doctors collaborating with Greece’s National Organization for Health Care Provision (EOPYY), decided to stop offering their services on credit and charge insured patients. This so called “warning mobilization” will be implemented from August 20th to September 2nd, 2012.
With the action called “work retention”, doctors want to put under pressure the EOPYY so that it will pay them outstanding debts.
During the above mentioned time, doctors will charge patients with the legal fees the EOPYY would pay for them for their services.
Doctors will wait until August 15th to “see the money into their accounts”, otherwise they will consider also other forms of actions, said the EOPYY doctors’ union in a statement on Thursday.
Health Care or Unhealthy Kindergarten?
Due to strict and Troika-imposed austerity measures many insurance funds – now under the EOPYY umbrella – stopped to provide patients with employed doctors. A patient has to seek private doctors that have work contracts with EOPYY.
Much to my knowledge EOPYY pays doctors up an average of 10 euro per patient. However there is a cap of 200 patients per month. Above this cap, EOPYY doctors charge patients with normal fees as if they were private patients.
The situation is getting more and more complicated and I foresee that the troubled Greek patient will soon start protesting with catheter, pacemaker and oxygen mask outside the Greek parliament. As soon as the summer heat allows it.
PS Hopefully, our good old doctors will also issue receipts, so that the patient eventually gets the money back from the insurance fund or add them to tax declaration 🙂