Fees for non-Gesy insured persons will be increased
Fees for non-Gesy insured persons will be increased
The state health service Okypy wants to compensate for millions in losses caused by treating patients without Gesy insurance. This is to be done through a revised price list, as announced on Friday.
The cost of medical services for this patient group – including asylum seekers, illegal migrants and tourists – is reported to amount to 45 million euros per year .
These patients now account for 22 percent of all those treated and include emergency patients, inpatient treatments and surgical procedures.
New price list is presented to Parliament
In an interview with CyBC radio, Okypy spokesman Charalambos Charilaou explained that the current prices date from 2013. A revised list has now been submitted to Parliament for approval.
"Before 2013, when the system still worked with health cards, anyone who received such a card had access to free hospital care - depending on their financial situation," says Charilaou.
Before the introduction of Gesy , only 20 percent of the population were not eligible and had to cover their health costs themselves.
Although a price list was drawn up in 2013 , it was not based on the actual costs and was not intended to have a deterrent effect.
This led to prices being set too low when the new state health system (Gesy) was introduced in 2019 – well below the compensation amounts provided by the health insurance scheme (HIO) .
An example:
A caesarean section currently costs 2,500 euros .
The HIO and non-Gesy-affiliated providers, on the other hand, charge more than double, namely 5,500 euros .
This was reported by Okypy’s financial director, Roberto Karachannas , to the parliamentary health committee .
Bill is up for vote
Okypy has now created a new price list for inpatient and outpatient treatments . This was submitted to the Ministry of Health and subsequently subjected to a legal review .
The bill was passed by the Health Committee on Thursday and will soon be submitted to the plenary for a vote , Charilaou said.
Goal: Financial independence of state hospitals
The background to this measure is the requirement that state hospitals must become financially independent . As soon as this is the case, they will no longer receive state subsidies . Therefore, the billing of all patients not insured by Gesy must be optimized.
In the future, the ministries will also be responsible for covering the costs of patients who fall under their jurisdiction , explained Charilaou.
- The Ministry of Health maintains a list of unregistered persons for whom it covers the costs – these include asylum seekers .
- Prisoners in prison hospitals are covered by the Department of Defense .
- However, if a non-Gesy prisoner needs treatment outside of prison , he must pay for it himself.
- Tourists can choose between public and private hospitals.
- You will have to pay out of your own pocket unless your travel insurance covers the costs.
- In the case of illegal migrants , it is still unclear which state authority will be responsible for covering the costs, Charilaou concluded.
The MFRadio.de news team keeps listeners up to date on this topic and will continue to report on it!
