Tons of ink have been spilled regarding the benefits provided in Greece, which are an integral component of the welfare state and aim to close the “gap” between employees and pensioners, to tackle inequality and social exclusion, helping to ensure basic needs, such as nutrition, housing and health, especially for people belonging to vulnerable groups.
It is a common phenomenon, however, that many people do not know if they are entitled to a benefit provided by a state body (OPEKA, EFKA, DYPA), especially among the elderly, as information has been largely transferred to the Internet in recent years.
Unfortunately, while the digitization of the state has progressed, so far there is no single platform that, by entering specific information, reveals which benefits each citizen is entitled to.
The “unknown” benefits – which many may know by name, but ignoring their content – in the majority of them… are discovered empirically, when their beneficiaries come into contact with people who face the same situation.
However, word-of-mouth information tends to ultimately complicate the search for potential beneficiaries, either by creating expectations that are ultimately disproved, or by discouraging those who actually qualify to claim them.
However, with this “claim” having moved into the digital world, children, grandchildren and generally tech-savvy relatives take on the responsibility of reading the requirements, making applications and collecting the volume of supporting documents required with a final destination the approval of the provision of the allowance. In fact, there are many who turn to labor experts in order to carry out these procedures and also to be informed about the conditions.
The “labyrinth” of disability benefits
«The least known are disability benefits. In general, the most personalized benefits are also the ones that people usually ignore, in the sense that if something doesn’t happen to you, for example a health problem, you won’t need it and you won’t know about it.” the labor specialist explains in “Step”. Kostas Tsoukalas.
“Too many times potential beneficiaries do not apply for benefits because they do not know about it. A woman had recently come to my office as her child had paraplegia for information. She is entitled to extra-institutional allowance, but no one had told her. She was asking herself, “Who was supposed to tell me?” continues.
The extra-institutional benefit is a typical example of an “unknown” benefit, especially in terms of its scope. Few people know that from 18.7.2018 it is also granted to those suffering from diseases which, in the judgment of the competent health committee (which will examine the patient and certify his disability) cause the same form of disability as paraplegia, quadriplegia (eg dementia).
The right to apply
The changes promoted by the government regarding the Disability Certification Centers contribute to better information on the benefits to which disabled people and their relatives are entitled: “Personalized information is received by every citizen who has been examined by the KEPA health committees and has the opinion at his disposal. In addition to the percentage of disability, the decision of KEPA also adequately states the type of benefits – i.e. if he is entitled to extra-institutional or total disability allowance from e-EFKA, support of another person, or if as an uninsured elderly person he is entitled to welfare benefits from OPECA. There are always facilities for the relatives of the disabled, such as the granting of an early pension, but only to relatives of the disabled (parent, spouse or sibling) and not to legal assistants who do not have one of these qualities (relevant regulation of Article 37 of Law 3996/2011)» says the first deputy commander of EFKA Panagiotis Kokkoris.
It is important, of course, that the citizen reaches the point of knowing that he has the right to request the certification of his disability.
“In any case, anyone entering the National Disability Portal epan.gov.gr can find out about the available benefits related to disability, as well as about their eligibility criteria, while personalized information can be obtained through the Ministry’s Unified Information Center for Insured Persons Labor – 1555” he adds himself.
The danger of misinformation
In the battle of information, beyond the social environment, social media have entered (e.g. Facebook groups, such as “Benefits – Benefits – Support Measures”), where users can post their questions, presenting the financial – their health status or often publishing even the decision of the KEPA with the aim of receiving information from other users who have been in their position, but there is also misinformation.
“Word of mouth distorts information. I have personally been called many times and asked about ‘dementia allowance’ when there is no such thing. Obviously they mean something else, but the way the information is conveyed creates confusion.” says the social worker. She highlights the issue of raising the awareness of the agencies regarding the provision of coherent information:
“Employees of EFKA, OPECA and the various services must become more aware and give clearer instructions to the people. For the employees it is their job and it makes sense that everything is clear. For the citizen, however, things are not as clear. A more careful approach is needed so that people understand what you say and what they are entitled to.”
Complex procedures
In fact, in addition to information, the procedures for some of the benefits are characterized as complex and with strict deadlines, making the daily life of people who are already facing a difficult situation and which has brought them to the search for the benefit difficult: “It is difficult for a common man to understand the process and to handle it. Things are not simple. The deadlines are very strict. Especially for benefits that require disability certification, if someone does not agree with the decision, they only have one month to file an appeal. If he misses a deadline, he either loses money or loses a right.” concludes Kostas Tsoukalas.
The insolvency allowance
In addition to health benefits, the Public Employment Service (DYPA, formerly OAED) offers a strong network of protection to support the incomes of the workforce and in particular the unemployed, vulnerable social groups, families – with an emphasis on workers parents – as well as other categories of the population. And while unemployment benefit is perhaps the most common benefit of the agency, few are aware of the existence of insolvency benefit, which compensates an employee in the event of the bankruptcy of his employer.
And while the material is available on the organizations’ websites, the information provided is diffuse and difficult to access for someone who is not familiar with technology: “On the page of EFKA and OPECA there is informational material about benefits, but from there, a non-specialist may find it difficult to understand whether he is eligible for a particular benefit or not. That is, which pensioner, which insured person, under which conditions can receive each benefit. This is the difficult part, especially for the elderly,” explains Ioanna Tsokanari, a social worker.
Coordination: Angelos Skordas
He writes: Christos Logaras
Diligence: Panagiotis Sotiris
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