By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

About 70,000 insured persons with debts of up to €100 to the EFKA are no longer considered insurable after an amendment tabled in Parliament by the Minister of Labor Domna Michailidou.

Before this change, even for a debt of €1, an insured person could not secure fiscal capacity which means access to private health structures at a cost E.O.P.Y.Y., coverage of health care benefits by E.O.P.Y.Y. such as e.g. diagnostic tests, medicines, hospitalizations, therapeutic procedures as well as private prescription. Exceptions are those affected by natural disasters, people with disabilities and minor children. Debtors with debts of up to €100 are now included in the exceptions.

For the avoidance of doubt, NOBODY from 2013 onwards, even if they are in debt, does not lose their access to free access to public health facilities.

It is estimated that approximately 70,000 are the direct beneficiaries of the relevant provision, with officials of the Ministry of Labor stating to that approximately half of them, 35,000, have very small debts, smaller than €10-€15. In many cases, they are not even aware of the existence of these debts as the phenomenon of paying the basic debt and not the interest and surcharges is observed and this is what the amendment of Mrs. Michailidou comes to remedy.

Those who have debts greater than €100, in order to be considered eligible for insurance, must either pay off their debts or settle them. According to EFKA data, it is estimated that 140-150,000 insured persons have debts that do not exceed €500, so they can easily settle and continue to enjoy access to private health facilities without paying everything out of their own pockets.

It goes without saying that the whole discussion is about the self-employed.

Those who belong to this group, in order not to lose their insurance capacity, should:

– To have completed at least 2 months of insurance during the last 12 months and to have of course paid the insurance contributions.

In the event of a debt, the insurance capacity is renewed every month, as long as the debt has been paid or settled in installments and the payment of the installments is observed.

Especially for the land workers covered by the former O.G.A. and are paid by stamp duty in order not to lose their insurable capacity they should:

-To have completed 150 days of insurance in the previous 12 months

– To have paid the liquidation amounts for the period 2017-2022

– The installment resulting from the liquidation of 2023 has been paid

As long as the above applies, the insurance capacity is renewed every month. In the event that all of the above have been paid and there is no liquidation for the year 2023, then insurance capacity is granted until 02/28/2025.