IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujhec/v17y2016i2p159-170.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informal payments in the Greek health sector amid the financial crisis: old habits die last..

Author

Listed:
  • Kyriakos Souliotis
  • Christina Golna
  • Yannis Tountas
  • Olga Siskou
  • Daphne Kaitelidou
  • Lycourgos Liaropoulos

Abstract

This survey reveals that, due to severe financial pressure, there is a growing unwillingness of citizens to pay informally and an increasing demand for these payments as a prerequisite for access to services or to redeem services provided. This “hidden” financial burden of at least 27 % impacts negatively on the living conditions of households and is not reported as purchasing ability or cost of living. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:17:y:2016:i:2:p:159-170
    DOI: 10.1007/s10198-015-0666-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10198-015-0666-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10198-015-0666-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gaal, Peter & Evetovits, Tamas & McKee, Martin, 2006. "Informal payment for health care: Evidence from Hungary," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 86-102, June.
    2. Ensor, Tim, 2004. "Informal payments for health care in transition economies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 237-246, January.
    3. Ligia Viorela Vaidean & Marina Ferent-Pipas, 2014. "Health and Healthcare Indicators – Panel Data Analysis for OECD Countries," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 4(8), pages 76-90, August.
    4. Schneider, Friedrich G. & Buehn, Andreas, 2009. "Shadow economies and corruption all over the world: revised estimates for 120 countries," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 1, pages 1-53.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Elias Mossialos & Sara Allin & Konstantina Davaki, 2005. "Analysing the Greek health system: a tale of fragmentation and inertia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(S1), pages 151-168, September.
    8. Liaropoulos, Lycourgos & Siskou, Olga & Kaitelidou, Daphne & Theodorou, Mamas & Katostaras, Theofanis, 2008. "Informal payments in public hospitals in Greece," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 72-81, July.
    9. Joseph P. Newhouse, 1992. "Medical Care Costs: How Much Welfare Loss?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 3-21, Summer.
    10. Tountas, Yannis & Karnaki, Panagiota & Pavi, Elpida & Souliotis, Kyriakos, 2005. "The "unexpected" growth of the private health sector in Greece," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 167-180, October.
    11. Balabanova, Dina & McKee, Martin, 2002. "Understanding informal payments for health care: the example of Bulgaria," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 243-273, December.
    12. Polyzos, Nikolaos & Karanikas, Haralampos & Thireos, Eleftherios & Kastanioti, Catherine & Kontodimopoulos, Nick, 2013. "Reforming reimbursement of public hospitals in Greece during the economic crisis: Implementation of a DRG system," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 14-22.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    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. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Lyberaki, Antigone & Tinios, Platon, 2018. "Long-term care, ageing and gender in the Greek crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 90299, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Persefoni Zeri & Charalambos Tsekeris & Theodore Tsekeris, 2018. "Investigating the Macedonia Naming Dispute in the Twitter Era: Implications for the Greek Identity Crisis," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 127, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    6. Ning Liu & Zhuo Chen & Guoxian Bao, 2021. "Unpacking the red packets: institution and informal payments in healthcare in China," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(8), pages 1183-1194, November.
    7. Monica Violeta Achim & Viorela Ligia Văidean & Sorin Nicolae Borlea, 2020. "Corruption and health outcomes within an economic and cultural framework," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(2), pages 195-207, March.
    8. Slobodan Ćulafić & Tatjana Janovac & Saša Virijević Jovanović & Jelena Tadić & Jamila Jaganjac & Aleksandra Milošević & Aleksandra Bibić, 2021. "State Incentives and Sustainable Motivation System in the Health Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Angeliki Flokou & Vassilis Aletras & Dimitris Niakas, 2017. "A window-DEA based efficiency evaluation of the public hospital sector in Greece during the 5-year economic crisis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Williams, Colin C. & Horodnic, Adrian V., 2017. "Rethinking informal payments by patients in Europe: An institutional approach," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(10), pages 1053-1062.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Arsenijevic, Jelena & Pavlova, Milena & Groot, Wim, 2015. "Out-of-pocket payments for health care in Serbia," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(10), pages 1366-1374.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Liaropoulos, Lycourgos & Siskou, Olga & Kaitelidou, Daphne & Theodorou, Mamas & Katostaras, Theofanis, 2008. "Informal payments in public hospitals in Greece," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 72-81, July.
    10. 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.
    11. Erik Schokkaert & Jonas Steel & Carine Van de Voorde, 2017. "Out-of-Pocket Payments and Subjective Unmet Need of Healthcare," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 545-555, October.
    12. Li, Mingqiang & Li, Zhihui & Yip, Chi-Man (Winnie), 2022. "Informal payments and patients’ perceptions of the physician agency problem: Evidence from rural China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    13. Colin WILLIAMS & Ioana HORODNIC & Adrian HORODNIC, 2016. "Who is making informal payments for public healthcare in East-Central Europe? An evaluation of socio-economic and spatial variations," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 7, pages 49-61, June.
    14. Baji, Petra & Rubashkin, Nicholas & Szebik, Imre & Stoll, Kathrin & Vedam, Saraswathi, 2017. "Informal cash payments for birth in Hungary: Are women paying to secure a known provider, respect, or quality of care?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 86-95.
    15. Cristian Incaltarau & Adrian V. Horodnic & Colin C. Williams & Liviu Oprea, 2021. "Institutional Determinants of Informal Payments for Health Services: An Exploratory Analysis across 117 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-19, November.
    16. Mæstad, Ottar & Mwisongo, Aziza, 2011. "Informal payments and the quality of health care: Mechanisms revealed by Tanzanian health workers," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 107-115, February.
    17. Sofie Buch Mejsner & Leena Eklund Karlsson, 2017. "Informal Payments and Health System Governance in Serbia: A Pilot Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(3), pages 21582440177, August.
    18. Sonila Tomini & Wim Groot & Milena Pavlova, 2012. "Paying informally in the Albanian health care sector: a two-tiered stochastic frontier model," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 13(6), pages 777-788, December.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health expenditure; Health policy; Hidden economy; Tax evasion; Informal health payment; Greek health care system; I12 (Health Behavior); I13 (Health Insurance; Public and Private); I14 (Health and Inequality); I18 (Government Policy; Regulation and Public Health);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:17:y:2016:i:2:p:159-170. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.