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GHS income up by €20 million, expenditure down by €50 million

14/01/2020 12:36

Income for the implementation of Cyprus’ General Healthcare System (GHS) from March 1 until end October 2019 increased by €20 million, while expenditure from June 1 until the end of 2019 fell by €50 million compared to initial projections.

In statements to CNA Cyprus Health Insurance Organization’s (HIO) senior officer Angelos Tropis said that contributions for GHS from March 1 until the end of October 2019 reached €330 million while extra payments made for visits to specialist doctors and the purchase of prescription drugs, since June 1, were about €10 million.

Referring to the HIO’s estimates on the income from contributions, Tropis said that “we had a positive difference in relation to the income projected by the actuarial study of Mercer consultants, which had estimated that we would receive around €310 million.”

He also said that expenditure for health services offered to GHS beneficiaries from June 1st when out-patient health services started until the end of 2019, reached €230 million.

Expenditure the senior HIO officer said are lower than €280 million projected in the 2019 budget due to the fact that during the first months the number of doctors who participated in it was not as great as today. He added that any savings made, are available for the offer of health services to beneficiaries in accordance with the relevant legislation.

Tropis also said that once the GHS is fully operational, that is to say from June 1, 2020 when in-patient services will also be available to beneficiaries, the budget will be around €1 billion on a yearly basis, or approximately €80 million per month.

On the basis of an increase in contributions from March 2020 HIO is adjusting its planning and no financial problems are expected to arise, he noted.

He expressed HIO’s readiness to negotiate with private clinics in order to reach an agreement for their participation in the GHS.