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Private health expenditure in the Greek health care system: Where truth ends and the myth begins

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  • Siskou, Olga
  • Kaitelidou, Daphne
  • Papakonstantinou, Vasiliki
  • Liaropoulos, Lycourgos

Abstract

Greece today has the most "privatized" health care system among EU countries. Given the country's universal coverage by a public system this may be called "the Greek paradox". The Objective of this paper is to analyze private health payments by provider and type of service in order to bring to light the reasons for and the nature of the extraordinary private expenditure in Greece. Methods: We used a randomized countrywide sample of 1616 households. Regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which social and economic household characteristics influence the frequency of use of certain health services and the size of household payments for such services. In all statistical analyses we used the pÂ

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  • Siskou, Olga & Kaitelidou, Daphne & Papakonstantinou, Vasiliki & Liaropoulos, Lycourgos, 2008. "Private health expenditure in the Greek health care system: Where truth ends and the myth begins," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(2-3), pages 282-293, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:88:y:2008:i:2-3:p:282-293
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    Cited by:

    1. Giannouchos, Theodoros V. & Ukert, Benjamin & Vozikis, Athanassios & Steletou, Evangelia & Souliotis, Kyriakos, 2021. "Informal out-of-pocket payments experience and individuals’ willingness-to-pay for healthcare services in Greece," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(6), pages 693-700.
    2. Isabel Marques & Zélia Serrasqueiro & Fernanda Nogueira, 2021. "Managers’ Competences in Private Hospitals for Investment Decisions during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-14, February.
    3. Puiu Ionut Fatulescu, 2011. "Romanian Health System: Lessons Still to Learn," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 3(3), pages 193-202, June.
    4. Krůtilová, Veronika & Yaya, Sanni, 2012. "Unexpected impact of changes in out-of-pocket payments for health care on Czech household budgets," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 276-288.
    5. Manos Matsaganis & Theodore Mitrakos & Panos Tsakloglou, 2009. "Modelling health expenditure at the household level in Greece," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 10(3), pages 329-336, July.
    6. Kazanis, Ilias, 2013. "Reforming the Greek health system: A role for non-medical, clinical bioscientists," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 46-51.
    7. Kyriopoulos, Ilias & Nikoloski, Zlatko & Mossialos, Elias, 2021. "Financial protection in health among the middle-aged and elderly: Evidence from the Greek economic recession," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(9), pages 1256-1266.
    8. Aristidis Bitzenis & Vasileios Vlachos & Friedrich Schneider, 2016. "An Exploration of the Greek Shadow Economy: Can Its Transfer into the Official Economy Provide Economic Relief Amid the Crisis?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 165-196, January.
    9. Nikolaos Grigorakis & Christos Floros & Haritini Tsangari & Evangelos Tsoukatos, 2017. "Combined social and private health insurance versus catastrophic out of pocket payments for private hospital care in Greece," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 261-287, September.
    10. Olga Siskou & Daphne Kaitelidou & Charalampos Economou & Peter Kostagiolas & Lycourgos Liaropoulos, 2009. "Private expenditure and the role of private health insurance in Greece: status quo and future trends," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 10(4), pages 467-474, October.
    11. Giannouchos, Theodoros V. & Vozikis, Athanassios & Koufopoulou, Paraskevi & Fawkes, Leanne & Souliotis, Kyriakos, 2020. "Informal out-of-pocket payments for healthcare services in Greece," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(7), pages 758-764.
    12. Grigorakis, Nikolaos & Floros, Christos & Tsangari, Haritini & Tsoukatos, Evangelos, 2016. "Out of pocket payments and social health insurance for private hospital care: Evidence from Greece," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(8), pages 948-959.
    13. Michael Kourtis & Panayiotis Curtis & Michael Hanias & Eleftherios Kourtis, 2021. "A Strategic Financial Management Evaluation of Private Hospitals’ Effectiveness and Efficiency for Sustainable Financing: A Research Study," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 1025-1054.
    14. Cherecheş, Răzvan M. & Ungureanu, Marius I. & Sandu, Petru & Rus, Ioana A., 2013. "Defining informal payments in healthcare: A systematic review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 105-114.
    15. Kyriakos Souliotis & Christina Golna & Yannis Tountas & Olga Siskou & Daphne Kaitelidou & Lycourgos Liaropoulos, 2016. "Informal payments in the Greek health sector amid the financial crisis: old habits die last..," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(2), pages 159-170, March.
    16. Grigorakis, Nikolaos & Floros, Christos & Tsangari, Haritini & Tsoukatos, Evangelos, 2018. "Macroeconomic and financing determinants of out of pocket payments in health care: Evidence from selected OECD countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1290-1312.
    17. Antonia Kountoura & Stavros Emmanouil & Efthymios Ziagkas, 2020. "Financial, Economic Crisis and Quality in Health Services Provision, New Challenges to Improve Quality Policy in the Healthcare System of Greece," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 10(1), pages 267-273, August.
    18. Kaitelidou, Daphne Ch. & Tsirona, Christina S. & Galanis, Petros A. & Siskou, Olga Ch. & Mladovsky, Philipa & Kouli, Eugenia G. & Prezerakos, Panagiotis E. & Theodorou, Mamas & Sourtzi, Panagiota A. &, 2013. "Informal payments for maternity health services in public hospitals in Greece," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 23-30.
    19. repec:thr:techub:10010:y:2020:i:1:p:267-273 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Roupas Theodoros & Charamis Vasilios, 2022. "Comparative Financial Analysis of Main Private Companies in the Health Sector in Greece, 2015-2020," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 323-341.
    21. Ifanti, Amalia A. & Argyriou, Andreas A. & Kalofonou, Foteini H. & Kalofonos, Haralabos P., 2014. "Physicians’ brain drain in Greece: A perspective on the reasons why and how to address it," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 210-215.
    22. Chantzaras, Athanasios E. & Yfantopoulos, John N., 2018. "Financial protection of households against health shocks in Greece during the economic crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 338-351.

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