EOPYY voices concern about rising debts
Greece’s main healthcare provider, EOPYY, said on Thursday that it is entering dire financial straits because it is not being paid by social security funds and, as a result, is racking up debts to its suppliers.
According to figures made public on Thursday, social security funds have failed to pay 1.5 billion euros to EOPYY, with 800 million euros of that debt being accrued this year. EOPYY’s biggest debtor is Greece’s main social security fund, IKA, which owes just over 500 million euros.
The failure to pay this money has had a discernible impact on EOPYY’s budget. It was meant to have revenues of 2.4 billion euros in the first half of this year but only received 1.75 billion. As a result, EOPYY has only paid out 1.9 billion euros when it was due to pay 2.8 billion.
“Under these conditions, EOPYY cannot stick to its budget and cannot meet its commitments to suppliers,” the healthcare provider’s president, Dimitris Kontos, told Kathimerini.
“The recent increase in contributions [to healthcare costs] from 4 to 6 percent on main pensions and 0 to 6 percent on supplementary pensions will have no effect if this money is not transferred to EOPYY,” said Kontos.
EOPYY’s unpaid obligations have risen to a total of 2.4 billion euros as a result of the latest additions. The organization owes money to doctors, clinics and pharmacies, among others.
“It is of vital importance that EOPYY receives what is due to it,” said Kontos. “This is not just to do with the organization but also about the survival of small and large businesses which operate in the health sector and work with EOPYY.”
