Thrift in Health: Came to Stay, ordered by the EU

One of the main themes of the informal meeting of Ministers of Health of the EU was the adaptation of public health systems in the "new reality" and the exchange of "know-how" and "good practices" among member countries. But this new reality, as configured, means a greater burden on citizens for medical benefits and an expanded scope of health services pass in the private sector.

As noted, moreover, Mr. Borg, "without reforms, most health systems in Europe will fail". So, in the case of Greece, the reduction in government health spending was "necessary not only because was required by the troika." So it is confirmed that Greece played the role of "guinea pigs", for policies tested on the Greek people, which will then be extended to other EU States. The excuse of the debt crisis which has imposed a tough austerity in health as it seems had other dominant feasibility.

One of the issues raised by Mr. Borg was the "improvement" as - told - in pharmaceutical expenditure, meaning the unprecedented reduction in state costs for medical treatment of citizens, which has led to a surge of private participation of policyholders.

And when the European Commissioner speaks of improvement, he means the effort to be raised the consumption of cheap generic drugs in the country, aiming to reach at least 60%. Besides, exactly that constitutes one of the objectives of the working group of German and Greek experts, through which will be continued the close cooperation between Greece and the German Ministry of Health, as confirmed at the meeting of Mr. Georgiadis with his German counterpart, Mr. Grohe.

Mr. Georgiadis gave the example of Britain, where the generic consumption has reached 83%, with reductions in prices of 70% and a parallel increase in the volume of sales. "Things that are divisive here, it is fait accompli in other countries (...) none of the British doctors denies the quality of generic" he argued.

Of course, just three months earlier, the British Medicines Regulatory Authority (MHRA) - the respective AEO - pointed out the risk of upsetting the patient confidence in the British health care system because of infringements of the rules from Indian manufacturing of cheap generic pharmaceutical companies.

As for increasing the participation of the insured, who weighted average can reach 32% in 2014, Mr. Georgiadis blamed the citizens. "The one who is slow to adapt, will pay more out of his pocket", he said cynically, while the responsibility for selecting the appropriate therapeutic formulation passed on to the patients themselves! "The increase in participation has to do with whether the patient changes the prescribing habit". That is, the health minister who continued to maintain the Law of Loverdou for prescription by active substance removing the choice of a specific drug from the physicians, now transforms the patients to doctors. And he says to the patients to get the cheapest generic otherwise will pay out of their pocket. This dilemma will become really threatening, when the Greek market will be overwhelm by generic drugs of questionable quality and efficiency that are imported from third countries.

The money saved in this way, continued Mr. Georgiadis, are intended for the uninsured. That is, the free and total access to health care that should be enjoyed by all Greek, whether insured or not and should be the concern of the state, will be paid by the citizens again.

It seems that the affliction of Greek citizens is endless also in the Health sector. The threat of the "total collapse of the public health system", if not applied the hard -cutting measures, is used even now when supposedly the country comes from the crisis.