Greece ends decades-long insurance inequality for healthcare workers

Greece is rectifying a long-standing insurance disparity affecting vital healthcare workers. A new regulation, part of a labor ministry bill, will grant hazardous and unhealthy profession status to nurses, nursing assistants, drivers, and ambulance crews within the National Health System (ΕΣΥ) and the National Center for Emergency Care (ΕΚΑΒ) who were hired before 2011.

This move corrects a "two-speed" system where employees with identical roles and working conditions had different insurance and pension rights. Previously, those hired before 2011 and under the public sector's pension scheme were excluded from hazardous profession benefits, unlike their newer colleagues who were covered under former IKA regulations. This created unequal treatment within the same hospitals and ambulances.

The new legislation ensures that these critical frontline workers will now be included in both primary and supplementary insurance schemes for hazardous professions. This uniformity aims to provide equal retirement conditions, potentially allowing for retirement up to five years earlier, at age 62, subject to specific insurance and contribution requirements.

Labor and Social Security Minister Niki Kerameus stated that this initiative corrects a decades-long injustice for a crucial professional group. The regulation establishes unified rules and enables earlier retirement, requiring 15 years of insurance, with at least 12 in these specific roles, and three years within the last 17 years before reaching the age limit or applying for retirement.

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With this legislative initiative, a decades-long injustice is being rectified against a critical professional group that is on the front line of the public health system daily and performs work of high responsibility and demands.