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GUIDEΕΛΣΤΑΤ ΕΔΑ 2026

How much does private health insurance cost in Greece? (2026)

Costas Matheou, licensed insurance agent
Costas MatheouLicensed insurance agentLast updated:
A woman sits beside her husband, resting comfortably in a private hospital bed after a minor procedure, while a smiling doctor explains his care plan on a tablet
Health insurance cost

Private health insurance in Greece costs from €69 a year for a residence-permit plan and about €1,275 a year on average for a long-term hospital contract, before premium tax. A primary-care plan at €48 to €108 a year is cheaper but pays no hospital bill. Age moves a quote most, ΕΛΣΤΑΤ's index shows.

Key takeaways

  • 12026 renewals on long-term contracts: +7.49% on average, above 8% for 56% of policyholders (Greece's consumer-protection authority, Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Ελέγχου της Αγοράς και Προστασίας του Καταναλωτή, as reported 24 June 2026).
  • 2Ageing is the main driver: claim cost per insured +6.24% in 2024, only +1.25% once age is taken out (ΕΛΣΤΑΤ ΕΔΑ, 26 June 2026).
  • 3Private insurance funded 4.9% of Greek health spending in 2024, households 34.2% out of pocket (ΕΛΣΤΑΤ health accounts, 27 March 2026).
  • 4About 949,000 policy-years of individual hospital cover were in force in 2024, three in four on annually renewable plans (ΕΛΣΤΑΤ ΕΔΑ, Table 2).
  • 5Standalone health premiums carry 15% premium tax, except for insured people under 18 from 1 January 2025 (Ν. 5162/2024, ΦΕΚ Α' 198/2024).
  • 6Men and women pay the same for a new individual policy: EU law bars pricing by sex since 21 December 2012 (CJEU C-236/09).
YOUR POLICYPremium tax included
  • Yearly limitup to €3,000,000
  • Public hospital cash€100 to €150 a night
  • Who can applyunder 80, EEA resident
  • Children under 18no premium tax

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Costas Matheou, licensed insurance agentCostas MatheouLicensed insurance agent

Cost in 2026

How much does private health insurance cost in Greece in 2026?

Greek private health cover comes as four products at four price levels: a primary-care plan, a residence-permit plan, a hospital plan and an international plan. Hospital plans sit in the middle, while international expat plans are quoted at €50 to €500 or more a month. Compare a price only with others in its own row.

  • Primary-care plan (sold as a "health card")

    What it pays
    discounted doctor visits and lab tests in a network; nothing toward a hospital bill
    Typical price
    €48 to €108 a year
    Basis and date
    published price lists of Greek insurers and intermediaries, checked 27 Sep 2026

  • Residence-permit plan

    What it pays
    the ΚΥΑ 133692/2024 minimums: €10,000 hospital, €1,500 medical, €15,000 accident disability
    Typical price
    €69 a year to age 40, up to €370 at 76 to 80
    Basis and date
    DigiCare permit plan, 25 Sep 2026

  • Greek hospital plan

    What it pays
    in-patient care and surgery, direct billing in network hospitals; out-patient care usually extra
    Typical price
    about €1,275 a year on average for long-term contracts, before premium tax
    Basis and date
    derived: €295.44m in 2025 premiums over 231,797 insured, 11 insurers, as reported 24 Jun 2026

  • International expat plan

    What it pays
    private hospitals abroad as well, evacuation
    Typical price
    €50 to €500 or more a month
    Basis and date
    bands published in an expat insurer's guide (undated), checked 27 Sep 2026

The hospital-plan figure is a market average across long-term contracts, not your price. Your own figure comes from a quote at your age.

A couple in their forties at a wooden kitchen table comparing two printed pages side by side, one pointing to a line while a laptop sits open beside them
4 plans, 4 price levels

€10 vs €50

Why do some sources say €10 a month and others €50 or more?

Private health insurance in Greece is a policy from an insurer that pays private hospital and doctor bills on top of, or instead of, public care through ΕΟΠΥΥ. The €10 to €15 a month figures price a primary-care plan, a discount scheme that pays nothing toward a hospital bill. The €50 and higher figures price hospital or international plans.
  • Primary-care planSuits someone already insured with ΕΟΠΥΥ who wants quicker tests and specialist visits.
  • Hospital planSuits anyone who wants a private hospital and surgery paid. This is where most of the money goes: 91.5% of standalone individual health premiums in 2025 went on hospital programmes (ΕΑΕΕ, Table 3).
  • International planSuits people who live or travel between countries.
A pharmacist explaining a plain membership card to an older man at a small pharmacy counter
Not the EHICThe free European card (EHIC, ΕΚΑΑ in Greek) is not private insurance. It gives state care during a temporary stay, nothing more.

What Greece pays

How much does Greece spend on private health insurance?

Greek households pay about a third of all health costs themselves, and private insurance pays under 5%. In 2024 private health insurance covered €974.9m of €19.87bn in health spending, up 19.1% in a year, while households paid €6.8bn directly (ΕΛΣΤΑΤ). The EU out-of-pocket share was 15.2% in 2023 (Eurostat).

Age and children

How much more does health insurance cost at 50, 60 or 70, and for a child?

Price rises with every age band. On one Greek insurer's published 2023 tariff, a 60-year-old paid about 2.7 times and a 65-year-old about 3.5 times what a 35-year-old paid for the same hospital cover. A price at 50 or 70 on a hospital plan needs a quote. The residence-permit plan, a different product with lower cover, rises by age band in today's prices.

  • up to 40

    Price per year
    €69

  • 41 to 65

    Price per year
    €88

  • 66 to 70

    Price per year
    €128

  • 71 to 75

    Price per year
    €250

  • 76 to 80

    Price per year
    €370

New applicants also face age limits. ERGO accepts new hospital-plan applicants from 30 days to 60 years, Εθνική Ασφαλιστική from 30 days to 70. And the later you buy, the more existing conditions the insurer will exclude.

For children:

  • No insurance premium tax is due for insured people under 18 since 1 January 2025 (Ν. 5162/2024).
  • Children on a parent's policy get family discounts; one insurer gives 30%, 40% and 50% off for the first, second and third child.
  • When a newborn can be added depends on the policy; the IPID states it.
A grandmother holding a smiling toddler on a shaded terrace, with the child's parents sitting beside her

Your sex does not change the price. EU insurers have not been allowed to use it for new individual policies since 21 December 2012 (CJEU C-236/09).

Cost traps

What are the cost traps in a Greek health insurance policy?

Six terms in the policy decide what you pay when you actually claim, on top of the premium. I read them in the IPID, the insurer's short product summary, before I look at the price.
  1. 1Deductible per stay or per year. With a €1,500 deductible on a €10,000 bill that is fully covered, the insurer pays €8,500. If the deductible applies per stay, a second admission in the same year costs you another €1,500.
  2. 2A co-payment on top. Some plans add a percentage share of each bill after the deductible. The IPID states it.
  3. 3Non-network hospitals. In a network hospital the insurer pays authorised treatment directly. Outside it, you pay first and claim back up to set limits.
  4. 4Waiting periods. On the plan DigiCare arranges (underwritten by SI Insurance (Europe), SA), maternity is covered only after 12 months. Check the waits on any plan you compare.
  5. 5Pre-existing conditions. They are excluded unless the insurer accepts them in writing.
  6. 6Planned care without pre-authorisation. On the plan DigiCare arranges, you pay 40% of planned hospital care that was not authorised first.
A man in his fifties at a home desk going through a booklet with a highlighter, a laptop beside him
  1. 01Find the deductible line: per stay or per year.
  2. 02Check the list of network hospitals.
  3. 03Read the renewal clause: long-term contract or 12-month policy.

Renewal rises

How much will your premium rise at renewal?

Long-term Greek health contracts rose 7.49% on average at the 2026 renewal, 8.20% weighted by premium, and 56% of policyholders got more than 8%. The figures cover 11 insurers and 231,797 insured, from Greece's consumer-protection authority (Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Ελέγχου της Αγοράς και Προστασίας του Καταναλωτή) as reported on 24 June 2026.

ΕΛΣΤΑΤ's index separates the two forces. In 2024 insurers' hospital-claim cost per insured person rose 6.24% including the effect of getting a year older and 1.25% without it. On long-term plans the figures were 7.23% and 1.76%, on annually renewable plans 5.36% and 0.79%.

  1. 20 January 2025

    Ν. 5170/2025, Art. 29 ties yearly adjustments of health contracts longer than one year to an ΕΛΣΤΑΤ index, applied from 1 January 2026.

  2. 30 September 2025

    ΚΥΑ 74816/2025 sets how ΕΛΣΤΑΤ calculates it.

  3. 26 June 2026

    ΕΛΣΤΑΤ publishes the first index, for 2024.

The rule covers contracts longer than one year. It does not apply to long-term contracts with no adjustment or a fixed one, and a 12-month policy is re-priced by the insurer at each renewal. Insurers must post every adjustment on a page of their website titled «αναπροσαρμογές ασφαλίστρων».

  • 5

    Premium that started at €1,000
    about €1,435

  • 10

    Premium that started at €1,000
    about €2,059

On consumer prices, health insurance in Greece rose 14.0% in 2024 and 7.0% in 2025, against 3.0% and 2.9% for all items (Eurostat). When your renewal letter arrives, I check it on the same lines as a new quote.

With ΕΟΠΥΥ

Is private health insurance worth it if you have ΕΟΠΥΥ or an S1?

ΕΟΠΥΥ pays for public care, but not all of it: insured people pay 25% of most medicines and 15% of tests, while a public hospital stay costs nothing (ΕΚΠΥ, ΦΕΚ Β' 2106/2025). Private cover buys private hospitals and shorter waits. It can also pay you cash when the public system treats you.
Public care
yes, with co-pays
Private hospital bill
you pay, unless insured
What private cover adds
private hospitals, shorter waits, cash for public stays
Typical private cost
hospital plan for your age

A self-employed person pays for ΕΟΠΥΥ through e-ΕΦΚΑ: €65.68 a month of the €250.77 category-1 contribution in 2026 (e-ΕΦΚΑ). An EU pensioner who registers an S1 with ΕΟΠΥΥ gets state care like an insured resident (ΕΟΠΥΥ). If you hold a residence permit without ΕΟΠΥΥ, see the residence permit health insurance requirements or the Golden Visa steps.

An older couple talking with a doctor in a bright consulting room, the doctor gesturing toward a tablet showing a simple chart
ΕΟΠΥΥprivate top-up
On the plan DigiCare arranges, a public hospital stay that costs you nothing still pays €100 to €150 a night in cash. See what each plan pays in health insurance for residents of Greece.

Compare quotes

How do you compare health insurance quotes in Greece?

Compare quotes at the same age and with the same deductible. Then put these six lines side by side.
  • yearly limit
  • deductible per stay or per year
  • network hospitals
  • room: single or shared
  • waiting periods
  • renewal clause: long-term contract or 12-month policy, the insurer's published adjustments and, at renewal, the new premium against last year's (Ν. 5170/2025)

Applying for a residence permit? The residence-permit health insurance certificate lists the amounts your file needs.

FAQ

Private health insurance cost in Greece: FAQ

A primary-care plan, at about €48 to €108 a year, costs least, but it pays no hospital bill. A residence-permit plan pays hospital costs up to the ΚΥΑ 133692/2024 minimums from €69 a year to age 40 (DigiCare, 25 September 2026). Check what a plan pays before you compare its price.

About €4 to €9 a month for a primary-care plan and about €106 a month on average for a long-term hospital contract (2025 premiums before tax, averaged across 11 insurers). International expat plans are quoted at €50 to €500 or more a month. Most Greek plans are billed once a year.

No official self-pay price list exists for private hospitals. But since 2025 each provider must publish its prices on its own website (Ν. 5170/2025, Art. 29). Insurers paid €3,578 per hospital claim on annually renewable plans and €4,938 on long-term plans in 2024 (ΕΛΣΤΑΤ ΕΔΑ), which shows the scale. A public hospital stay costs an ΕΟΠΥΥ-insured person nothing.

Not for state care. An S1 registered with ΕΟΠΥΥ gives you state care like an insured resident (UK government guidance). Private cover is an optional top-up for private hospitals and shorter waits, priced for your age.

Workers are insured through e-ΕΦΚΑ by law. A private policy is mandatory only when a residence permit requires one, for example a Golden Visa, a financially independent person's permit or a digital nomad permit, with the minimums in ΚΥΑ 133692/2024.

Public care is free at the point of use for people insured with ΕΟΠΥΥ through e-ΕΦΚΑ or an S1, apart from co-pays of 25% on most medicines and 15% on tests. People outside ΕΟΠΥΥ usually pay for their own care or rely on private insurance.

Yes. A health rider attached to a life policy carries 4% insurance premium tax, while a standalone health policy carries 15% (Ν. 3492/2006, Art. 29).
Costas Matheou, licensed insurance agent

About the author

Costas Matheou is a licensed insurance agent who writes and reviews the guides on DigiCare Insurance. This guide is general information, not individual legal or insurance advice.

A woman at home on a sofa arranging insurance cover online on a laptop, calm and pleased

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