GESY state healthcare system - Updates

[galexinda]

You register by completing: Create an Account
Look under Beneficiaries for further information for the next stage of the process (currently only able to register)
In English and Greek


https://www.gesy.org.cy/sites/Sites?d=D ... ge=home-en

[galexinda]

House passes regulations governing Gesy contributions
https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/02/01/hous ... ributions/

The regulations on contributions to the National Health Scheme (Gesy) were approved by the House plenum on Friday.

Regulations, voted with 36 votes for and two abstentions, provide for the procedure for collecting, paying and withholding contributions for the purposes of Gesy. The package also includes regulations determining co-payments and contributions to be paid by the beneficiaries of Gesy when receiving health care services.

Among the provisions is a €25-fee that patients will have to pay if they visit their general practitioner (GP) after 8pm or during the weekend and public holidays.

The provision in question, according to the head of the House health committee, Costakis Constantinou, was an incentive for private sector GPs to respond, if they wish to, to patients wanting a consultation during those hours.

The provision in question was not well received by Akel and Edek.

Akel parliamentary representative, Giorgos Loukaides, said that his party, despite backing the regulations, were not in agreement with the €25 coming out of the pocket of patients.

He said that it is the state that ought to foot the bill, and that Akel would fight to have the provision scrapped.

Edek leader, Marinos Sizopoulos, said that the provision aims at preventing a direct visit to specialist doctors.

“What would happen if a patient had a heart attack and who would pay the cost of loss of life due to the time lost for the referral form the GP to the specialist?” he asked.

Other co-payments concern €1 for each prescription, €6 per visit to specialist doctors and to nurses of midwives, €10 for X-rays, and per each visit at the accident and emergency departments.

There will be no charges for vulnerable groups.

In March 2019, contributions for Gesy will be collected by the social insurance services, the tax department and the state treasury.

Phase One of Gesy will kick in on June 1. This concerns outpatient care provided by personal physicians, specialists, pharmacies and labs.

Gesy will be in full swing as of June 1, 2020 with inpatient care.

As of March 1, employees will contribute 1.7 per cent of their wages, employers 1.85 per cent of each employee’s wages, while the self-employed will contribute 2.55 per cent of their insurable income. As of March 2020, with the full implementation of Gesy, these percentages will increase to 2.65 per cent for employees, 2.90 per cent for employers and 4 per cent for the self-employed.

[galexinda]

For those who are interested here are links to articles about GESY

January 2019
https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/01/29/keve ... n-march-1/

November 2018 (video)

October 2018
https://in-cyprus.com/nhs-prices-dates- ... -_WrnzuYIw

https://in-cyprus.com/how-will-we-pay-f ... 03sa1qiCfo

June 2017
http://www.cyprusbeat.com/free-national ... eXGcxxI9X4

[galexinda]

What do you know about GESY?

Two weeks before we all have to start contributing to the National Health Scheme (Gesy), we asked people on the streets of Nicosia what they know about it, and what they think will happen.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/02/16/what ... ut-gesy-v/

[galexinda]

Visited our local private GP yesterday and she confirmed she will be in the GESY healthcare system and will add us to her list. The list of Providers will be announced mid-March. Each GP can sign up to 2,500 people. You have the option to register on-line or when you visit the GP.

Having created an account for each of us some time ago, we continued to the next stage and our Beneficiary Enrolment Forms have just been posted to Nicosia together with the name of the GP we have selected even though that section of the website is not yet operational.

[trevnhil]

I have been to the General Hospital this morning and find it so strange that there are no notices about GESY at all.
The extra windows in the pharmacy are now in operation..

[galexinda]

I learnt more from the visit to the GP yesterday about the new healthcare system than in the past few weeks. Cypriot neighbours are being kept informed in the media and some have also been given brochures about it, but in general they do not know how the system is going to work and say most of the articles and discussions are about the deductions from wages and pensions than the operation of the system.

[tonee]

Tried to register a couple of weeks ago,would not accept my alien number from MEU1,e-mailed them,they replied that I have to go to social insurance office and register the number with them?

[galexinda]

An information campaign will be launched on Wednesday covering everything members of the public need to know about the National Health Scheme (Gesy).

The campaign, launched by the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO), will offer information on when Gesy will be launched, its services, what beneficiaries are entitled to, their obligations and contributions.

It will also inform healthcare professionals on how they can join Gesy.

Distribution of information material, media advertisements, seminars and events are some of the planned actions.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/02/26/info ... mW04Ln3lfo

[jeba]

Good news: it´s not mandatory to join. Bad news: you have to pay contributions even if you don´t join.
This is the email I sent them:

will joining Gesy be mandatory for EU-citizens residing in Cyprus who already have health insurance?

And this is their answer:

Joining the General Healthcare System is not obligatory, however, if you receive an income you are obliged to pay a contribution. Kindly note that in case you are not a tax resident of Cyprus, you will pay contributions only for the income, earnings and pensions that derive from the Republic of Cyprus, excluding dividends and interest.

Thank you for contacting us, we remain at your disposal.

Waiting for them to tell me whether this applies to non-domiciled tax residents as well.

[galexinda]

The pharmaceutical association reasserted its support for the implementation of the National Health Scheme (Gesy), but noted that its members are concerned over changes in the system for compensation of pharmacists.....

On a more positive note, Piera said, with Gesy, each patient will be registered with a pharmacist in their area, with which they will be in direct contact, and which will also help tackle the current trend of drug purchases from the north.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/02/25/phar ... tCBHEmvY5A

Not happy about being registered with one Pharmacy as I use 2 different ones because my favourite doesn't stock a medication I have to carry with me.

[galexinda]

The first phase of the National Health Scheme (Gesy) will be launched as planned with the introduction of outpatient care on June 1, the head of the state health services organisation (Okypy) said on Wednesday.

Although quick to acknowledge the difficulties that have bedevilled the scheme and with four months until Gesy is finally a reality, Okpy head Nicos Polyzos said that everyone was working at full speed to have everything ready not only for phase one but also the introduction of outpatient care – phase two – which is expected to roll out on June 1, 2020.

An extensive information campaign was launched on Wednesday to inform the public about Gesy.
At present the campaign is in Greek only but information on Gesy in English may be found at www.gesy.org.cy

https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/02/27/desp ... -1-launch/

[trevnhil]

We too use more than one pharmacy.. Living in Polemi we cannot use a 'local' one as there are non between Paphos and Polis.. We use a pharmacy near our dentist if we need antibiotics prescribed by the dentist.
If we visit the St George hospital, the Iasis or the Blue Cross, we use the pharmacists just outside their entrances..
I use the consultants at the general hospital and have prescriptions from them.. But now if I do not leave the hospital before 1 pm I have to wait around in town until a pharmacy opens at 3pm !!!!!
Or of course I can go back to Polemi and come out again in the later afternoon.. Crazy comes to mind..

To Me closing the General Hospital Pharmacy to outpatients is a retrograde step, for the patients at least

[galexinda]

State medical staff who are members of the civil servants’ union Pasydy are taking measures as of Monday to protest against the state health service (Okypy)’s handling of the transition into the National Health Scheme (Gesy).

They are dissatisfied with the way Okypy is handling important procedures such as the autonomisation of hospitals and the general reform of public healthcare, which must be complete before the first phase of Gesy kicks in on June 1.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/03/04/pasy ... esy-talks/

[galexinda]

The implementation of the NHS on June 1 will bring significant changes to the way medicine is given to patients by state services.

One of the most important changes is that NHS pharmacies will stop providing medicine without a doctor’s prescription.

The government will release a list of over the counter medicine which will not be covered by the NHS and residents of Cyprus will have to buy them at their own discretion.

Residents will pay a prescription fee of €1 to get a drug. The state will cover beneficiaries for the cost of prototype drugs, that is the cost of drugs that are more important in a family of drugs. Morphine, for example is the prototype of opioid analgesics.

https://in-cyprus.com/how-will-medicine ... r-the-nhs/

[Varky]

The implementation of the NHS on June 1 will bring significant changes to the way medicine is given to patients by state services.
One of the most important changes is that NHS pharmacies will stop providing medicine without a doctor’s prescription.

What is a NHS pharmacy? Is this one attached to the hospital such as the General Hospital in Paphos. Or is that one closing and a NHS pharmacy is defined as one designated as such only by the state/NHS.

Reading this one could assume that a non-NHS pharmacy will still be selling medicines without a prescription.

[galexinda]

In one article I read that as well as having a designated GP people were going to have a designated pharmacy.

[trevnhil]

I hope that doesn't happen and we use a number of different pharmacies

[Austin7]

In one article I read that as well as having a designated GP people were going to have a designated pharmacy.

My pharmacy told me that too.

[Devil]

All speculation!!!