Healthcare in greece n\g | Vital Football

Healthcare in greece n\g

wxgill

wxgill

Vital 1st Team Regular
I've just been charged 80 Euro to be prescribed some ear drops. I showed my ehic card but they said I can use that if I drive 40 miles to the hospital!

Does a European national get the same charge when they present at our GPS or hospital?

£75 to look at my ear and give me a prescription is outrageous. I wish they had told me first! I had to back to my hotel and get my passport rtf once I had the prescription!

after chatting to the nurse they still have certain professions where they can retire at 45 ffs!

I'm glad we're leaving! The Dr didn't realise we are leaving.
 
My friends cousin had a heart attack in the USA resulting in surgery and two weeks in hospital. The total bill paid for by his travel insurance was over $1m.

Our NHS really is the envy of the World. Only its bad news and problems are publicised. Not perfect but for the greater part it does a very good job.

Not surprised about the Greece experience . An average prescription here costs the NHS around £22 to dispense but the charge is £9 more or less.

But the problem is the failure here to recover charges from visitors.
 
Very hard when you're not used to paying for something to get hit with the costs. For good or for ill, living in the US has trained me to go nowhere near doctors unless a) the situation is really bad and b) I think they can actually do anything for me quicker than waiting to get home. Ear problem? Ibuprofen until back on home turf -where it would cost me 40 euros and cheap at the price.
 
Does a European national get the same charge when they present at our GPS or hospital?


The short answer is no.

That's not the purpose of the EHIC though, neither is it for British residents to receive free treatment when in Europe.

The EHIC scheme entities you to emergency medical treatment under the same terms and costs as a resident of the country you are in.

I don't know enough about the Greek system to say if this is what you actually received though!
 
I know a Brit who lives in Greece and has the highest regard for the service received once for heart problem and the other after a serious car crash.
 
Fullsp said:
Does a European national get the same charge when they present at our GPS or hospital?

That's not the purpose of the EHIC though, neither is it for British residents to receive free treatment when in Europe.

The EHIC scheme entities you to emergency medical treatment under the same terms and costs as a resident of the country you are in.
Click to expand...

For most people the card enables them to free emergency treatments with the bill charged back to the person's domestic NHS. In some cases, some treatments will be heavily subsidised rather than completely free. I believe emergency dental work will fall into this category if the person needs serious treatment for a bad toothache but isn't likely to die if they wait until they get home.

And also there are a few different EHIC cards. The student-studying-abroad version may get additional range of "free" treatments beyond the A&E bills covered.

The problem with the EHIC card from a UK perspective is that we tend to be terrible at chasing up our EU partners to get back the cost of bills that their citizens might have run up, whereas we seem to be keen to pay the money back the other way.

There are plenty of stories of doctor practices in out in the middle of nowhere rural towns taking advantage of tourists knowing the tourist will pay the fees and then not actually do much about it but grumble to their friends. They play on the fact most people don't know they could probably get an over the counter cheap packet of painkillers or eardrops as applicable.
 
So, you go to a foreign country without travel insurance and expect to rely on an EHIC card for free treatment. A bit silly at best.

The Greek system is private to all intents and purposes and works extremely well........if you pay. It's not expensive. My wife had a full raft of blood tests and an ultra sound scan for €120. Done on the same day and back to the doctors for a prognosis, again, on the same day. Try getting that done in the UK in such a short space of time.

There is a system called IKA which you could use and that applies to certain doctors and hospitals. It'll take forever.

The best way to manage minor illness is to go to the pharmacy. They will diagnose and sell you something over the counter. Total cost would be about €10, just for the item you buy. You can pretty much buy anything OTC in Greece.
 
"after chatting to the nurse they still have professions where they can retire at 45, ffs."

What, and that's a bad thing?!

I don't understand people who think it's a good thing to spend practically the entirety of their adult life working full time until they reach the beginning of old age when they can finally retire! Who could possibly really think this is a good way to spend a life?! FFS, for all any of us know this is the only life we'll ever have. So many people have been so brainwashed that they think working full time for most of their life is something admirable and honourable. It's not, it's fcking stupid!

45 is a much more reasonable age to retire; your body's not yet completely fcked and you still gotta bit of life left to live. This retiring in your 60s is a con, I tell ya.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people shouldn't work, that would just be daft. It's quite obvious that we need to do some work. But there should be more play, more leisure time, more time to be creative and to enjoy life. In truth, people should only really need to spend two or three days a week working, not five or six.

Of course, some people really enjoy their work but let's be honest, they're few and far between. Most people work to earn a living and most people can think of lots of things they'd rather be doing than the job they do to make money. Most people only work long hours for the majority of their life because they don't have any choice. Or rather, they have been conned into believing they have no choice. Actually, there are alternatives which, if pursued, leave more time for more important things in life.

It's very similar to people who take pride in paying taxes. They don't realise or view it that they are basically being robbed. It's a bit like being mugged and then beaming with pride that your wallet has been stolen!

I don't expect (m)any of you to agree, you're all far too entrenched in the lies you've been fed. If you realised now that your life has been controlled to such an extent that your time has been stolen (and that a proportion of the money you've earned in exchange for your time has also been stolen) it would be pretty fcking devastating.

So you can take the piss out of the Greek system, wx, but be sure to know that those Greek nurses (and those who view the world similarly to me) are laughing at the likes of you. (Actually, I'm not always laughing, occasionally you have my pity).
 
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Retirement age is 67.
Life expectancy for men is 78.
Work for 50 years to be free for 11...
 
Buddha said:
"after chatting to the nurse they still have professions where they can retire at 45, ffs."

What, and that's a bad thing?!

I don't understand people who think it's a good thing to spend practically the entirety of their adult life working full time until they reach the beginning of old age when they can finally retire! Who could possibly really think this is a good way to spend a life?! FFS, for all any of us know this is the only life we'll ever have. So many people have been so brainwashed that they think working full time for most of their life is something admirable and honourable. It's not, it's fcking stupid!

45 is a much more reasonable age to retire; you're body's not yet completely fcked and you still gotta bit of life left to live. This retiring in your 60s is a con, I tell ya.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people shouldn't work, that would just be daft. It's quite obvious that we need to do some work. But there should be more play, more leisure time, more time to be creative and to enjoy life. In truth, people should only really need to spend two or three days a week working, not five or six.

Of course, some people really enjoy their work but let's be honest, they're few and far between. Most people work to earn a living and most people can think of lots of things they'd rather be doing than the job they do to make money. Most people only work long hours for the majority of their life because they don't have any choice. Or rather, they have been conned into believing they have no choice. Actually, there are alternatives which, if pursued, leave more time for more important things in life.

It's very similar to people who take pride in paying taxes. They don't realise or view it that they are basically being robbed. It's a bit like being mugged and then beaming with pride that your wallet has been stolen!

I don't expect (m)any of you to agree, you're all far too entrenched in the lies you've been fed that to realise now that your life has been controlled to such an extent that your time has been stolen and that a proportion of the money you've earns in exchange for your time is stolen too!

So you can take the piss out of the Greek system, wx, but be sure too know that those Greek nurses (and those who view the world similarly to me) are laughing at the likes of you. (Actually, I'm not always laughing, occasionally you have my pity).
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100% with ya Buddha !

I 'retired" a few years ago but I'm well short of the official retiring age.
I prefer to call it financially inactive.
Through a bit of long term planning, I decided that I could afford to no longer work, so don't.
Best decision I've ever made.
There's a lot more to life than working.
 
wxgill said:
I've just been charged 80 Euro to be prescribed some ear drops. I showed my ehic card but they said I can use that if I drive 40 miles to the hospital!

Does a European national get the same charge when they present at our GPS or hospital?

£75 to look at my ear and give me a prescription is outrageous. I wish they had told me first! I had to back to my hotel and get my passport rtf once I had the prescription!

I'm glad we're leaving! .
Click to expand...

As I understand it ....
The EHIC card does not entitle the visitor to free treatment - just the same treatment as a local.
For example, a visit by a Frenchman to a French GP costs (IIRC) ~€20 - so a UK visitor would have to pay the same.

FWIW, I don't consider the EHIC a reason to leave the EU.
The UK could choose to rejoin the EHIC system - as long as reciprocity is maintained - or make bi-lateral agreements.

Whether or how the NHS recovers costs from foreign governments is a separate matter.
.
 
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The best thing to do when you're old and crotchety is get a habit.

Why is a bad idea to take heroin until you're old? Because it fcks up your life! How does it fck up your life? It fcks your life up because it kills your aspirations and dreams - the smack becomes the only thing you live for.

Whilst you've still got life to live taking heroin is a very, very bad idea. Once you're old and have pretty much lived your life; when you're weak, feeble and confined to one room anyway; why not take the pain away with some self-medication?

I've seen elderly relatives of mine who were completely fed up with life and were pretty much waiting to die. Comments such as, 'Don't ever get old, it's no fun', were oft repeated. I sat there looking at them and thought to myself, "if only you understood, I could get you some smack and your life wouldn't be so miserable".

So in short, my message is: whilst you've still got life to live don't waste it by working too hard, and don't waste it becoming a useless junkie. Then, if you reach old age and your life is pretty much over, don't spend it in pain waiting to die, go find yourself something that will make you feel all warm and cosy inside.
 
Before the EHIC was thought of, before we joined the EU, we had reciprocal arrangements with some countries. I remember Bulgaria & Switzerland were among that number.

The only times I have used health services abroad, France, I was offered the chance of reclaiming the money on my return to the UK. I only bothered doing it once but be aware normal prescription items cannot be claimed for.








v
 
Buddha said:
The best thing to do when you're old and crotchety is get a habit.

Why is a bad idea to take heroin until you're old? Because it fcks up your life! How does it fck up your life? It fcks your life up because it kills your aspirations and dreams - the smack becomes the only thing you live for.

Whilst you've still got life to live taking heroin is a very, very bad idea. Once you're old and have pretty much lived your life; when you're weak, feeble and confined to one room anyway; why not take the pain away with some self-medication?

I've seen elderly relatives of mine who were completely fed up with life and were pretty much waiting to die. Comments such as, 'Don't ever get old, it's no fun', were oft repeated. I sat there looking at them and thought to myself, "if only you understood, I could get you some smack and your life wouldn't be so miserable".

So in short, my message is: whilst you've still got life to live don't waste it by working too hard, and don't waste it becoming a useless junkie. Then, if you reach old age and your life is pretty much over, don't spend it in pain waiting to die, go find yourself something that will make you feel all warm and cosy inside.
Click to expand...

I better start saving. My Heroin Fund won't get me very far at the moment. Maybe a second job will help?
 
Buddha said:
"after chatting to the nurse they still have professions where they can retire at 45, ffs."

What, and that's a bad thing?!

I don't understand people who think it's a good thing to spend practically the entirety of their adult life working full time until they reach the beginning of old age when they can finally retire! Who could possibly really think this is a good way to spend a life?! FFS, for all any of us know this is the only life we'll ever have. So many people have been so brainwashed that they think working full time for most of their life is something admirable and honourable. It's not, it's fcking stupid!

45 is a much more reasonable age to retire; your body's not yet completely fcked and you still gotta bit of life left to live. This retiring in your 60s is a con, I tell ya.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people shouldn't work, that would just be daft. It's quite obvious that we need to do some work. But there should be more play, more leisure time, more time to be creative and to enjoy life. In truth, people should only really need to spend two or three days a week working, not five or six.

Of course, some people really enjoy their work but let's be honest, they're few and far between. Most people work to earn a living and most people can think of lots of things they'd rather be doing than the job they do to make money. Most people only work long hours for the majority of their life because they don't have any choice. Or rather, they have been conned into believing they have no choice. Actually, there are alternatives which, if pursued, leave more time for more important things in life.

It's very similar to people who take pride in paying taxes. They don't realise or view it that they are basically being robbed. It's a bit like being mugged and then beaming with pride that your wallet has been stolen!

I don't expect (m)any of you to agree, you're all far too entrenched in the lies you've been fed. If you realised now that your life has been controlled to such an extent that your time has been stolen (and that a proportion of the money you've earned in exchange for your time has also been stolen) it would be pretty fcking devastating.

So you can take the piss out of the Greek system, wx, but be sure to know that those Greek nurses (and those who view the world similarly to me) are laughing at the likes of you. (Actually, I'm not always laughing, occasionally you have my pity).
Click to expand...
i wish I could have gone at 45 but I've budgeted for 55. I just wondered how greec e can let some go at 45 when they are financially struggling hence two two so bailouts!
 
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