Brussels, 29/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The impact of the economic crisis on European health systems roused great interest among the representatives of national governments who were participating in the informal health ministers meeting in Athens on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 April. Nearly all the delegations wanted to have their say on this sensitive and highly topical issue, so as to discuss the reforms that need implementing and to share their experience. While health policy is an area of national competence, the exchanges on good practice and cooperation were certainly felt to be crucial for implementing appropriate reforms. “We have had very positive proposals and experience was shared. The conclusions resulted in a unanimous call for health care that is accessible to all”, said Greece's Minister for Health Spyridon-Adonis Georgiadis, who was chairing the discussions. The ministers and their representatives recognised that greater cooperation was needed between the member states to ensure their citizens a minimum level of health care and access to medicines. In the view of European Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg, the crisis been positive in that it has forced member states to take firm measures to make their healthcare systems more effective and less costly. “No healthcare system in Europe will be sustainable if is it not reformed (...). A great deal has been accomplished compared with the past although the problems existed back then”, he said.
Public budgets dedicated to the financing of health systems have sometimes been seriously affected by the economic crisis of 2007. This is a situation which continues - particularly in the most severely affected countries, such as Greece, Italy and Spain. The ageing population and the insecurity to which some fringes of the population are subject, put the health systems under pressure as the demands on them grow - forcing member states to reform their systems as quickly as possible in order make them more resilient, more effective, able to respond to future challenges and, the ultimate challenge, less costly. What is more, the gap is widening between citizens in a precarious position, who have increasingly less access to health care, and the more well-off, who have the means for complementary private health insurance. In Greece, for example, half the long-term unemployed lost their job and their health insurance coverage at the same time, and now depend on the Greek public health system. Nevertheless, the system is bearing up and measures have recently been taken to make it more effective with the aid of European funds, Borg was pleased to announce. (IL)