%0 Journal Article
%T Cyprus¡¯ health system reform: Trials and tribulations
%A Andreas Polynikis
%J -
%D 2018
%X For the past 25 years, Cyprus has been unsuccessfully trying to implement healthcare reforms, despite the significant financial resources spent on this task, the enactment of the 2001 Law of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the establishment of the Health Insurance Organization (HIO) with the mission to implement a National Health Insurance Scheme in the country. This paper aims to trace the causes of failure to implement proposed reforms in the healthcare sector, and suggest possible ways to overcome the barriers. The authors have chosen to take a qualitative approach to this investigation through semi-structured interviews with politicians such as Presidents of the Republic and Ministers of Health, main constituent figures and representatives of trade unions and employers, pressure groups in healthcare, health workers. In addition, the data were drawn from the records of the Cyprus Ministry of Health. The results of this study reveal that no government or state mechanism in Cyprus has believed in the viability of the proposed NHIS and thus has been in conflict with stakeholders whose interests have been threatened by the implementation of the National Health System in Cyprus. Insurance companies and doctors with high income, exercise pressure on governments to withhold the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme. Tax evasion, the lack of technical expertise by the HIO and the three major events that took place during the review period, namely the accession to the European Union,the European Economic Area (EEA) and the financial crisis, put an end to all attempts to implement the reforms. Although the necessary funds were made available, no infrastructure was developed. As a result, the plan to establish state hospital autonomy was proclaimed the most important barrier to the implementation of the reforms
%K Sa£¿l£¿k sistemleri reformlar£¿
%K ulusal sigorta
%K de£¿i£¿im direnci
%K politik eksenler
%K bask£¿ gruplar£¿
%K hastanelerin £¿zerkli£¿i
%U http://dergipark.org.tr/sagakaderg/issue/43167/523561