Insurance companies are seeking to build a line of defense with hospital acquisitions and partnerships with the state in an effort to stem the increased cost of compensation in hospital coverage, which is leading to large hikes in health insurance programs.
Cooperation with the public sector is high on the agenda of insurance companies, after the window left open by Deputy Minister of Health Marios Themistocleous, declaring the state’s “readiness” to make specific nursing packages and doctors from the national service available to serve private insurance cases.
“We are ready to serve in public hospitals cases that come from private insurance, inviting companies to a new framework of cooperation in order to find solutions for better serving patients,” Themistocleous said.
The idea is seconded by Ethniki Insurance CEO Dimitris Mazarakis, who proposed, given ongoing demographic pressures, “the need to develop a long-term strategy in order to ensure faster and equal access of citizens to health services.” The expansion in the healthcare sector aims to address the problem of high dependence on specific service providers.