Collection 2 articles 8 minutes

Private health insurance in Greece: the complete guide

Private health insurance in Greece: the market average from public figures, what you buy, what sets the price and where you lose money.

The guide, step by step

2 articles, in order

2 articles, in the order we wrote them.

Start at the first

01

Oliver King · Pexels

HealthGuide13 September 2026 14 minutes

Personal accident insurance in Greece: what it pays and what it costs

Personal accident insurance pays a cash sum for death or disability from an accident. What it covers, what it excludes, and the prices companies print on their own pages.

Health
02

Matheus Bertelli · Pexels

HealthAnalysis9 September 2026 4 minutes

The cheapest insurer does not exist

No insurer is the cheapest for every driver. Each company sets its own prices and draws its own lines for age and experience. Why it happens, and what it means for how you search.

Car insurance Health

At a glance

In 2024 the average individual health premium was €694 per insured person, net: €848.1 million of premiums over 1,221,998 insured people, by ΕΑΕΕ¹.
By kind of plan, the market average from public figures runs from about €379 a year for a plan with a share and a limit under €150,000 to about €1,723 for full cover, before tax².
The excess is a lever in your hands. No public figure says how much it cuts the price, so ask each company for two or three excesses.
Annual limits differ from plan to plan. Groupama writes €750,000 in Santé Confort Plus, with entry from 30 days to 65 years of age³.
An accident is covered from the first day. For some conditions there is a waiting period before the company pays, as the Groupama document says too³.

The point

Private health insurance in Greece is a contract that pays the hospital bill after an illness or an accident. In 2024 the average individual premium was €694 per insured person¹. Three things set the price of your own plan: your age, the room class you choose, and the sum you agree to pay first (the excess). This guide explains what you buy, how to read a policy and what the law says.

What private health insurance is

In Greece almost everyone has public cover from EOPYY, the national health fund. It pays for a stay in a public hospital and part of a stay in a private one. Private health insurance fills the gap. It pays for the room, the operating theatre, the doctors and the medicines in a private hospital, up to a maximum sum a year.

The base of every policy is the hospital plan. It pays only for a hospital admission, overnight or for day surgery. On top, companies add outpatient benefits: doctor visits, diagnostic tests, medicines. These benefits cost more, because people use them every year.

Three nearby products are often confused with health insurance:

The diagnostic test plan. It gives tests and visits at partner centres with a small or zero co-payment. Minetta prints €60 or €125 a year for one person in MINETTA Aid and Aid Plus⁴, and Interlife €50 a year for LIFE Care⁵. It does not pay for a hospital stay.
Personal accident insurance. It pays a lump sum on death or disability from an accident, and in the richer packages the medical costs and a daily allowance. It does not cover illness.
Residence permit insurance for foreign nationals. It covers the minimum the migration code asks for. Interlife prints a price from €5.58 a month for its annual plan, IMMIGRANTS Care⁶. It resembles health insurance only in name.

This guide covers all four, but mainly the hospital plan, because most of the money and the costly mistakes are there.

The five parts of a hospital policy

Every hospital plan, at any company, comes down to five numbers. Understand them and you can compare anything.

The annual limit

The most the company pays in one year, or per hospital stay. Groupama writes €750,000 in Santé Confort Plus³ and €777,378.10 in Santé Avantage⁷, in the product documents (IPID) it publishes. Other companies write other limits. Cancer treatment with new drugs can cost a great deal, so the limit matters.

The room class

Ward, two-bed room, single room or suite. The class sets the daily room rate, and in some private hospitals the surgeon’s fee too. No public figure says how much the class changes the premium, so ask for the same plan in two classes. If you stay in a better room than you bought, you pay the difference, or the company pays only a percentage. Ask exactly how.

The excess

The sum you pay yourself before the company pays. Groupama, for example, offers €0, €750, €1,500, €3,000, €6,000, €10,000 or €15,000 a year in Santé Confort Plus³. In that plan the excess applies per year, not per stay. In some policies it applies per case, which changes the arithmetic a great deal. Choose it with care: the excess is the part of the price you decide.

The co-payment percentage

Some plans have no excess in euros, but a percentage. The company pays 80% or 90% of each bill and you pay the rest. The percentage looks cheap, but on a €40,000 stay a 20% share costs you €8,000. A policy with a €1,500 excess would cost you €1,500.

The hospital network

Some policies pay at any hospital, Greek or foreign. Others pay in full only at partner hospitals, and a percentage elsewhere. A partner hospital has one more advantage: the company pays it directly, and you do not take out your wallet. Elsewhere you pay and claim it back later, with receipts.

What the public figures show

ΕΑΕΕ publishes two health surveys. The first gives the premiums: in 2024, individual health premiums were €848.1 million for 1,221,998 insured people, €694 per person, net¹. The second gives the claims paid per insured person by kind of plan, and the loss ratio of the individual plans, 69.34%⁸. The claims divided by the loss ratio give the market average premium of each kind²:

Kind of plan	Market average a year, net
With a share, limit under €150,000	€379
With a share, limit of €150,000 or more	€660
Full cover, limit under €150,000	€1,723
Full cover, limit of €150,000 or more	€1,064

The premium of an adult pays the 15% premium tax. The health premium of a child pays none⁹. No public figure prices the age, the room class, smoking or the size of the excess, so the table does not change with them. Sex does not count either: since 21 December 2012 the price may not differ for a man and a woman¹⁰.

Companies also print their own examples, each for a different plan. In the order of their names:

Interamerican: €59 a month for a young couple, €96 for a family with a baby, €139 for a family with two children¹¹.
Interlife: Υγεία OPTIMUM and Υγεία MAXIMUM from €16.75 or €13.25 a month¹².
Syndea: hospital cover up to the age of 18 from €11.23 a month¹³.

How to choose a plan, step by step

The order of the questions matters more than the answers.

How much can you pay out of pocket in a bad year? Your excess must not be more than that sum. If the answer is €3,000, take a €3,000 excess. If it is €500, ask for a €500 excess. A zero excess is the most expensive choice.
Which hospital would you want? Check that it is in the network of the company. If not, ask what percentage it pays there.
A two-bed room or a single room? Most people say single, then see the price. The two-bed room is the sensible choice. You pay the difference on the day you want it.
Lifetime or annual? If you are young and plan to stay, lifetime. If you need it for a few years, annual.
What will be excluded? Write down your medical history before you ask for a quote. Ask how each company will handle each condition. The answers differ a great deal.
What will it cost at 65? Ask for the full table of premiums by age. Two plans with the same price today can differ a lot in 25 years.
What does it give as extras? The free benefits count. Some hospital plans give doctor visits and diagnostic tests at a low price or free. Count them at what you would really use.

When you do not need private health insurance

Health insurance is not for everyone, and a good intermediary will tell you so. In three cases the answer may be no.

If you have group insurance from your work with hospital cover, check its limits. A group plan may give a low hospital limit a year, which is little for a serious case. If the group plan gives a high limit, an individual policy may be surplus while you work there. The question then is what happens when you leave, at 55, with a medical history.

If you have liquid savings kept for emergencies, you can insure yourself for one hospital stay. You cannot for a chronic condition with many stays. The choice here is a plan with a very high excess, which costs less and pays only for the catastrophic case.

If you are over 65 and never had insurance, the market has almost closed for you. Groupama, for example, takes new members in Santé Confort Plus from 30 days to 65 years of age³. Where entry is possible later, ask for the price and the exclusions in writing, and compare them with what you would pay out of your own pocket. There is no right answer for everyone.

Where to go from here

Health is the most complex part of private insurance. The articles below cover personal accident insurance, and why no single company is the cheapest for everyone. Read the one that concerns you before you sign. For a price, open the comparison for health insurance. It shows the market average from public figures and our own estimate for each company, from the cheapest.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need private health insurance if I have EOPYY?

It is not compulsory. EOPYY gives you a stay in a public hospital and part of the cost in a private one. Private insurance pays the rest, and it gives you a choice of hospital, room and timing. If you have savings set aside for a hospital stay, you can live without it.

How much does a basic hospital plan cost?

In 2024 the average individual health premium was €694 per insured person, net, by the health surveys of ΕΑΕΕ. By kind of plan, the market average from public figures is about €379 a year for a plan with a share and a limit under €150,000, €660 with a limit of €150,000 or more, and €1,064 to €1,723 for full cover, before tax. No public figure prices the age, the room class or the size of the excess.

What is the excess and why do you recommend it?

The excess is the sum you pay yourself in each year of hospital care, before the company starts to pay. A higher excess lowers the premium, but no public figure says by how much. Ask each company for the same plan with two or three excesses. The excess is a price lever you hold in your own hands.

What about a condition I had before I took out insurance?

You must declare it on the application. Law 2496/1997, article 3, obliges you to state everything you know. The company then decides. It may accept the condition, exclude it for good, exclude it for a period or add a loading to the premium. If you hide it, you lose the payment when you need it.

A lifetime policy or one renewed each year?

A lifetime policy obliges the company to renew you every year, whatever happens to you. A policy renewed each year does not. The lifetime policy may cost more at the start. If you plan to stay insured for many years, ask for both prices and weigh the difference.

When does health insurance start to pay?

For an accident, from the first day. For some conditions there is a waiting period before the company pays, and each policy sets its own list and length. Read the table of waiting periods before you sign.

How does insurance for a residence permit differ from health insurance?

It is a different product. Insurance for a residence permit covers the minimum the Migration Code (Law 5038/2023) asks for: disability from an accident, medical and pharmacy costs, and a stay in a public hospital, with low limits. Interlife, for example, prints a price from €5.58 a month for its annual plan. It does not replace a hospital plan.

Can I change company without losing cover?

You can change, but you start again from the beginning. A new health check, new exclusions, new waiting periods. Whatever appeared in the meantime becomes a pre-existing condition. That is why a change pays off mainly while you are healthy. A company may recognise the waiting period you have already served, if you ask in writing.

Sources

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