Thousands of Greeks are abandoning private health insurance policies that once promised lifelong coverage, as insurers raise premiums on legacy contracts that have become among the industry's costliest liabilities.
New data released by Greece's statistical authority show that the number of policyholders holding long-term, lifetime health insurance contracts fell by nearly 32,000 between 2022 and 2024, a decline of almost 12%. The number of such policyholders dropped to 240,840 in 2024 from 272,659 two years earlier.
The figures point to a quiet but accelerating retreat from a generation of insurance products that companies no longer sell and increasingly view as financially burdensome.
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The old policies, many of which were marketed in the 1980s and 1990s, offered generous benefits and broad hospital coverage. At the time, insurers underestimated how rising medical costs, longer life expectancy and an aging customer base would affect their economics.
Today, those contracts have become a drag on insurers' balance sheets.
In 2024, Greek insurers paid out €229 million ($269 million) in claims under lifetime health policies, according to the data. That was only slightly below the €254 million paid under annually renewable plans, even though the latter category covers nearly three times as many people.
The average annual claims cost per lifetime policyholder reached €950, roughly 2.6 times the cost associated with annually renewable contracts, where benefits have been significantly scaled back over the years.
The industry has responded by sharply increasing premiums, particularly for older customers who generate the highest claims costs. Consumer groups and market observers say the increases have had the effect of pushing many policyholders to abandon coverage altogether.
The exodus from lifetime policies has coincided with a boom in annually renewable plans. The number of people covered by those contracts rose by nearly 28% between 2022 and 2024, reaching more than 707,000 policyholders.
The pressure on insurers is expected to intensify as Greece ages. New indicators compiled by the Hellenic Statistical Authority show that demographic change has become the primary driver of health insurance costs.
For lifetime policies, annual cost increases attributable to aging amounted to 7.23% in 2024. Excluding the age factor, costs would have risen by only 1.76%. Similar trends were recorded in annually renewable contracts.
The statistical authority's age-adjustment index has accelerated rapidly, rising from 5.3% in 2022 to 10.7% in 2023 and reaching 16% in 2024.
Before the new index came into force—which is intended to provide a benchmark for future premium adjustments—insurers imposed another round of steep increases in 2026.
According to an analysis by Greece's Independent Authority for Market Supervision and Consumer Protection covering almost 232,000 active long-term health insurance policies, more than half of policyholders faced premium increases exceeding 8% this year, while nearly one in six saw premiums rise by more than 9%.
The regulator also criticized insurers for a lack of transparency, saying companies often fail to clearly separate increases caused by rising hospital costs from those linked to policyholders' age or other contractual adjustment mechanisms. In many cases, notices sent to customers did not clearly disclose previous and new premium levels or explain how the increases had been calculated.
For many elderly Greeks, the consequences are increasingly stark: pay ever-higher premiums to preserve health coverage they have held for decades, or give up policies that were once sold as protection for life.
