The health system and the entitlement to health care
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'Documented' migrants
Τhe issue of migrants' health only entered the policy agenda in the 2000s. The recent Immigration Bill (Law 2910/2001) has granted officially equal rights regarding National Insurance and social protection for foreign nationals legally resident in Greece, as they apply to Greek citizens. However, it was only in 2002 that the government launched for the first time a set of measures aiming specifically at integration: the 'Action Plan for the Social Integration of Immigrants 2002-2005' which includes provisions on the health care of immigrants.
Formal access to the free services of the National Health System (NHS) has been dependent on registered employment and regular status, which was not the case for the majority of Greece's immigrants throughout the 1990s. In July 2000, the Ministry of Health and Welfare issued a Circular on the 'medical treatment and hospital admission' of nationals of countries outside the EU and the EEA. Accordingly, regular immigrants may have access to the national health system as long as they possess a health book issued by the Insurance Fund they are registered with.
Ethnic Greek migrants can also benefit from the public health services if they are able to present the necessary documents, which include, for those not insured, a health book for low-income people eligible for a special welfare programme. In either case, the member of the household who is insured or benefits from special welfare programmes covers dependent family members.
Undocumented migrants
Undocumented migrants in Greece are entitled to very restricted rights, compared to many EU countries. They only have access to hospital emergency rooms for the treatment of life-threatening conditions. The only exception is for foreign patients with HIV or other infectious diseases, who can benefit from free medical care and hospital admission, provided that the appropriate treatment is not available in their country of origin; in that case they are also entitled to temporary stay and work permits (Law 2955/2001).
Asylum seekers and refugees
Asylum seekers are also entitled to the same access to health care as Greeks. However, until they succeed in obtaining an asylum seeker's status they are only entitled to emergency care, like undocumented migrants.
