Government Debt Crisis and the Impact on National Health Systems: A Retrospective Study and Policy Recommendations to Greece

Abstract

This article aims to explore the impact of the government debt crisis on the national health system (NHS) using a representative sample of respondents in Greek hospitals and provides certain suggestions regarding health policies that could be implemented at the national or local level. This study was conducted at the Evangelismos & Eye Polyclinic of Athens General Hospital in Athens, Greece. The study period was January and February of 2016, and the study included 600 outpatients who frequently submitted to follow-ups and consented to participate. Based on the results of this study, the participants had an average health status, while 94.2% of them had medical insurance. The predominant reason (88%) for choosing public hospitals instead of private practices was insufficient income. Further investigation revealed a significant positive correlation between the participant's age and the number of hospital visits, the number of medical tests performed, and their satisfaction from the health services provided. Finally, a probit-model was used in order to study factors that could potentially influence their level of satisfaction from the services they used.

Keywords: crisis; health care system; health quality.

Figure 1. Frequency histogram showing the ratings given by the participants on their overall experience of the public hospital (0=very bad, 10=excellent)