Overview

Cyprus introduced a comprehensive General Healthcare System (Geniko Systima Ygeias, GeSY) in June 2019, which provides universal coverage and free access to all beneficiaries. The new health care system is a mixture of a National Health Service and a Social Health Insurance scheme, funded by beneficiaries’ and employers’ contributions and the state budget. Providers come from both the public sector and the contracted private sector.

Health expenditure per capita reached US$ 4206 in 2021, equivalent to 9.4% of GDP. Since the introduction of GeSY the public share of health funding has almost doubled, and stood at 85% in 2021. Moreover, the previous lack of a national health care system caused Cyprus to have the second highest share of out-of-pocket (OOP) payments in total health expenditure in the EU in 2018 (45%). Now, the extension of coverage and increased availability of health providers under GeSY has seen OOP spending decline substantially, to 15% in 2022.

The reform focus over the last 10 years has been to implement the various components of GeSY. The main areas for development going forward include the reorganization and reform of public hospitals; the introduction and use of e-health; the integration of quality and performance indicators into the compensation mechanisms of GeSY providers; and the introduction of medical and therapeutic protocols and guidelines. A major challenge is ensuring the financial sustainability of the health system in the long term.