Health Sector Reform in Greece Since 2010: Facts, Policies and Implementation

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the Greek healthcare system and assesses the reform initiatives undertaken since 2010. The latter have received widespread criticism as being mainly driven by expenditure containment considerations while at the same time having detrimental effects in terms of adequate healthcare provision and population health. However, this critique rarely focuses on the long-standing pathologies of the healthcare system in Greece both prior and during the crisis. As a conclusion, it is probably that some of the reform measures have exacerbated the issue of hindered access to healthcare especially in combination with reductions in disposable income and healthcare insurance coverage. Some others have been successful in bringing necessary restructuring, modernization and monitoring in the existing system. In this sense, it is very hard to characterize interventions pursued as “totally bad” or “totally good”. Health sector policies that will be pursued in the immediate future need to focus on mitigating the adverse effects of the crisis but they also need to focus on safeguarding necessary reforms that took a lot of effort and time before becoming reality.