The Ministry of Labor is promoting the complete change of the insurance fund benefits landscape after the middle of 2024, i.e. in less than a year from today.
The reason for the benefits of the (former) insurance-pension funds which have been integrated into e-EFKA for 6 years (and not the social benefits of OPECA which are given based on income criteria and the unemployment benefits of DYPA).
That is, sickness benefits, maternity protection benefits, benefits in the event of a work accident, funeral expenses, but also supplementary benefits granted to people with disabilities.
The central axis of the planned change in the wider field of social security (which also includes the above-mentioned benefits and not only pensions) will be the following: Each insured person will receive the same amount of benefit from the e-EFKA for the corresponding reason (e.g. e.g. illness, accident, etc.) and not a different amount (depending on the special regime still in force in each former fund) as is currently the case.
Increases and decreases aimed at the average
According to newsit.gr exclusive information from competent government sources, the aim is to unify the rules of the above benefits – which concern all insured persons (retired and economically active) – in a fair but fiscally neutral way, i.e. without reducing the existing expenditure of the state budget.
However, the formation of uniform rules, the same sources report, means that those insured with benefits (e.g. in case of illness, funeral expenses) which are above average will see their amount reduced, while those insured they have below average benefits will see them increase.
This fluctuation depends more on the supply, say the same sources. For example, even one insured from one fund is entitled to a sickness benefit above the average of this benefit, as it results from the payments made by all the funds. The sickness benefit to this insured person will fall to the average level.
If an insured person of another fund is currently entitled to a sickness benefit below the average of the same benefit, he will see it rise to the level of the average.
It is recalled that the formulation of uniform rules for benefits also for the non-pension benefits of the e-EFKA (and not only for pensions) has been pending since 2017, when all insurance-pension funds were found under the same “roof”.
Last week, according to a related announcement, the decisions to form the Working Groups for the Uniform Regulation of Sickness Benefits and the Uniform Rules for pensions and disability benefits were signed by the Ministry of Labour.
In the first phase, they are asked to list the number of existing hashed rules:
– For the granting of cash benefits, such as sickness benefits, maternity protection benefits, benefits in the event of a work accident, funeral expenses, but also benefits and programs managed by e-EFKA, such as children’s camps. The primary objective is to capture the scattered conditions and procedures for awarding the above benefits.
– For the conditions, the procedures for the pension and allowance benefits granted to people with disabilities, with an emphasis on identifying the scope of coverage of the beneficiaries’ needs.
According to the newsit, in the near future, the working groups are invited to deliver a full conclusion which will incorporate comprehensive proposals for the unification of the rules and propose new, homogeneous rules for the specific categories of benefits.
The government’s goal, according to the same sources, is to have legislation in the above fields after the middle of 2024 and for the changes foreseen by the upcoming provisions to take effect immediately after.
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