Healthcare in Athens: ESY, clinics and insurance

Your Medicare card does nothing in Greece, so the real question is this: are you paying into the Greek system, or paying for private cover instead?

The short version

Australia has no Reciprocal Health Care Agreement with Greece. Australia's 11 agreements cover the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Malta, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway and Finland, and Greece isn't one of them [2].
The public system is the ESY (national health system). The insurer that pays for doctors, tests and medicines is EOPYY. You're covered if you pay social insurance through EFKA, as an employee or a registered freelancer, and you have an AMKA.
Everyone in the system has a personal doctor. Anyone not registered by mid-2025 was assigned one automatically, based on their address [4][5].
Prescription medicines carry a co-payment of 0%, 10% or 25% of the reimbursement price [6].
Living in Greece on a digital nomad, financially independent or Golden Visa permit? You'll usually need private health insurance for the permit, and it'll be your main cover [7].

Who is actually covered: AMKA, EFKA and EOPYY

Australians tend to assume that living somewhere means you're in its health system. Greece doesn't work like that. Cover follows contributions, not residence.

Here's how the three acronyms fit together:

Acronym	What it is	Why it matters to you
ESY	The national health system: public hospitals and health centres	Where you go for public care and emergencies
EOPYY	The national health insurer	Pays for GP and specialist visits, tests and medicines for insured people
EFKA	The social insurance fund	Your (or your employer's) contributions here make you insured with EOPYY
AMKA	Your social security number	Links you to everything above; doctors and pharmacies ask for it

If you work for a Greek employer, your employer registers you with EFKA and you become insured. If you freelance, your monthly EFKA contributions do the same job. Dependants (a spouse and children) can usually be added to the insured person's cover.

If you live in Greece but don't work there, you're generally not insured with EOPYY. Typical examples are digital nomads paid from Australia, retirees on the financially independent person permit and Golden Visa holders. Greek-Australians with Greek citizenship are in the same boat: a Greek passport doesn't make you insured. The contributions do.

The Australian side

Medicare doesn't pay for treatment overseas, and once you leave Australia permanently you're generally no longer eligible anyway. There's no agreement to fall back on in Greece [2]. The Australia–Greece social security agreement covers pensions, not health care.

Personal doctors and health centres

Greece has been building a GP-style system around the personal doctor (prosopikos iatros). This is a GP or internist in the public system, or a contracted private one, who's your first stop and handles referrals.

The Ministry of Health made registration universal: anyone without a personal doctor by the end of June 2025 was assigned one automatically, using the AMKA register and their recorded address. The doctor comes from your municipality or a neighbouring one. You can change once in 12 months, or twice if you move region [4]. The old penalty system for people without a personal doctor was abolished [5].

Two things catch new arrivals out:

Your address on the AMKA register matters. If it's your first short-stay flat in Koukaki and you've since moved to Glyfada, your assigned doctor could be across town. Update it.
Private GPs can be personal doctors too, but you pay. If you choose a private doctor as your personal doctor, you pay for those visits yourself [5].

Public primary care also runs through health centres and local networks (PEDY units) across Attica [3]. For children, a personal paediatrician scheme offers free visits, though places are limited [4].

In practice, plenty of Athenians, Greek and foreign, mix the two systems. They'll use a public personal doctor for prescriptions and referrals, and pay a private specialist when the public wait is long. Private specialist visits are paid on the day, often in cash or by card, and fees vary a lot by specialty and suburb.

Public hospitals, private hospitals and emergencies

Emergencies

Call 112 (the European emergency number) or 166 (the national ambulance service). The ambulance takes you to the nearest ESY hospital on duty [3]. Athens public hospitals rotate on-call duty (efimeria), so not every emergency department takes walk-ins every night. Check the day's on-call list in the Greek press or on hospital sites before you turn up somewhere at 2am.

What Smartraveller says

Smartraveller rates Greek public hospitals as below Australian standards. It says private hospitals generally provide better ambulance services, and that hospitals and medical centres aren't free: you'll be asked to pay before you leave [1]. That's written for travellers, but it's a fair warning for new residents who aren't yet insured.

Public vs private at a glance

	Public (ESY)	Private hospitals and clinics
Cost if you're insured with EOPYY	Mostly covered; some co-payments	You pay, then claim from private insurance if you have it
Cost if you're not insured	You pay; payment expected before discharge [1]	You pay, or your insurer pays directly
Waits	Can be long for non-urgent care	Usually short
Language	Doctors often speak English; admin staff may not	English common, especially at the large Athens hospitals
Comfort	Busy wards; family often expected to help with basic care	Private rooms, more like an Australian private hospital

Athens has several large private hospital groups in the northern suburbs (Marousi) and the centre. Most expat insurance policies list which ones they settle with directly. Ask your insurer before you need them, not in the ambulance.

Pharmacies and prescriptions

Greek pharmacies are everywhere: look for the green cross. Pharmacists are trained and often the first stop for minor things, and many speak English.

Prescriptions are electronic. Your doctor issues an e-prescription linked to your AMKA, and any pharmacy can fill it. Insured patients pay a statutory co-payment of 0%, 10% or 25% of the reimbursement price, plus any gap between the reimbursement price and the shelf price. Greek patients paid about €439 million in co-payments and another €405 million in price gaps in 2025 [6]. If you're not insured, you pay the full price.

Codeine is stricter. Smartraveller warns that codeine and other prescription opioids need a prescription from an accredited Greek medical professional [1]. If you take regular medication:

Bring enough from Australia for your first months, in original packaging.
Carry a letter from your Australian GP listing the generic names and doses.
Check that each medicine is available and legal in Greece before you fly [1].
Once you have an AMKA and a personal doctor, get it re-prescribed locally.

On-duty pharmacies

Pharmacies keep shorter hours than Australian chemists, and many close on Sundays and some weekday afternoons. A roster of on-duty pharmacies (efimerevonta farmakeia) covers nights and weekends. Every pharmacy door displays the day's list for the area, and the Attica pharmacists' listings are published online. Save a listings site to your phone in your first week.

Private health insurance: for visas and for peace of mind

If you're on a permit that requires it, private cover isn't optional. For the digital nomad visa, for example, the insurance must come from a provider authorised in Greece. It must be a residence-grade health policy, not short-term travel insurance, and it must cover hospital and medical care for everyone on the application for the whole permit period [7]. Similar requirements apply to other non-work permits. Check the current list with the consulate or a lawyer before you apply.

Things to compare when buying:

Hospital vs outpatient. Cheap policies may cover only hospital stays. GP and specialist visits are where most day-to-day costs sit.
Direct settlement. Does the insurer pay the hospital directly, or do you pay and claim?
Pre-existing conditions and waiting periods, just like Australian private cover.
Evacuation and repatriation to Australia. Smartraveller stresses that the Australian Government won't pay for medical evacuation [1].
Renewal age limits. Some policies stop renewing at a certain age, which matters for retirees.

Even insured employees often add a private policy through work. The public system covers the essentials, while a private plan buys speed and a private room.

Your first-month health checklist

Get your AMKA as soon as your status allows, and check the address recorded against it.
If you're employed, confirm that your employer has registered you with EFKA. Your cover depends on it.
Look up your assigned personal doctor, and change them if they're impractical.
If you're not insured with EOPYY, buy private health cover before your travel insurance runs out.
Find your nearest on-duty pharmacy listing and the nearest on-call hospital roster.
Save 112 and 166 in your phone, plus the Australian Embassy in Athens on +30 210 870 4000 and the 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 [1].
Ask around. Join Cooee Greece, our Facebook group for Australians in Greece, at /join/. Members swap names of English-speaking doctors and dentists all the time.

Healthcare in Athens: the public ESY, private clinics and what Australians pay