Health insurance: New index from 1 January 2026, control of increases – Amendment tabled in Parliament

The amendment stipulates that a new indicator is created on the basis of which the annual adjustments of health insurance premiums will be made and excessive increases avoided. The index will be drawn up by ELSTAT, while IOBE’s current Single Health Index (EMU) is abolished. CORVERSE The new indicator will be applied from 1 January 2026 and data will be taken into account for its preparation and will be indicated by a joint decision of the Ministers for Development, National Economy and Finance, Health and the President of ELSTAT, following the opinion of the Governor of the Bank of Greece. As stated in the new index, it is to be a fair way to adapt long-term health insurance contracts, which are no longer offered to the consumer, in order to avoid such adjustments being carried out under clear and therefore abusive, general terms of trade contained in the contracts concluded in the previous decades, to the detriment of that category of insured persons. In addition, insurance companies and nurses will be obliged to make public the insurance adjustments and health services invoices they provide. CORVERSE The amendment states that: The annual adjustment of insurance premiums to health insurance contracts with a duration of more than one year (long-term) depends on the Annual Long-term Health Insurance Adjustment Index (EDF) published by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) in December. The EED shall apply from 1 January 2026. Insurance undertakings shall publicly announce the premium adjustments for each health insurance product they offer, posting them on a distinct page of their website entitled ‘insurance adjustments’. The notice shall include at least the name of the insurance product, the percentage of the premium adjustment and the time of the adjustment. Health service providers (clinicals, hospitals, etc.) shall publicly communicate the prices of their services, in particular for any kind of medical or nursing act they offer to consumers and the amount of price adjustment from the immediately preceding price. The notice shall be made in the form of a list-list, in particular, on a distinct page of the company’s website entitled ‘Health Services Price’. The notice shall include at least the name of the medical service, the price at which it is offered to consumers, the timing of the adjustment, the time of application of the immediately earlier price and the rate of price adjustment in relation to the immediately earlier price.