Paphos People

I apologise if this has already been covered in previous posts but I cannot find anything regarding Gesy contributions taken from the bank. We are in receipt of a letter confirming we are exempt from Gesy contributions, however we do not know what to do with it.
I went to the Hellenic bank yesterday with said letters and was told that everyone has to pay and that they did not know anything about exemption letters.

Am I missing the obvious? Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you Lynne

that's a new one on me .. sorry cant help

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REACH 1000`s of PAPHOS CUSTOMERS EVERY DAY FOR A FRACTION OF WHAT THE OTHERS CHARGE
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Whilst the optimist and the pessimist argued that the whisky glass was either half full
or half empty ? .
I drank it .....
The opportunist..

I have this evening sent a message to GESY with the following information to see what they say

Retired UK pensioner who has been living in Cyprus for many years.

Holder of an MEU1 (and in the process of changing to an MEU3)

Registered in the Cyprus Tax System

Holder of a UK S1 health certificate

Registered with GESY

Has a GESY Exemption letter from the Ministry of Health



Can you please confirm whether or not they are liable to pay the 1.70% rate (2019) and 2.65% (2020) OR if this is covered by the UK (S1) and if so, how is this paid

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

When I applied for our S1 exemption to pay contributions to GESY letter from Nicosia I was told it was required to complete the Cyprus Tax Return. As an accountant deals with our tax returns I sent her a copy and she has just completed the 2019 tax return.

If we had not had that S1 exemption letter we would have been liable to pay contributions, currently 1.70%, because we are MEU3 Yellow Slip Permanent Residents.

With regards to deductions from bank accounts this should only be on interest and dividends and is taken from everyone's account regardless of status.

If you are in receipt of a Cyprus State Pension the 1.70% GESY contribution is taken out at source (from what other people have told me who actually get the Cyprus State Pension).

More information about the GESY S1 Exemption Letter below:

GESY - IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR S1 HOLDERS ie UK State pensioners & their dependents
Posted: 23 Aug 2019 06:30 AM PDT

Regarding GESY, to avoid being asked for contributions, those who are S1 holders are requested please to send an email to one of the following addresses quoting:

Full name
Date of birth
ID no

Email to the Medical Card Department in the Ministry of Health to Mr Soteris Stratis (sstratis@moh.gov.cy) or Mrs Tasoula Michael (tmichael@papd.mof.gov.cy) for a confirmation letter to certify that you are not subject to contributions for GESY according to the General Health System Law of 2001.

Married couples should please send one email showing details of both husband and wife.  A confirmation letter will be issued addressed to the husband, or pensioner in the marriage. 

It is important to apply for this letter to avoid problems with the tax department trying to claim contributions.   If you have neighbours/friends who do not have internet/email, could you please assist them by applying on their behalf.

The letter will apply for an indefinite period.    

Reply to yesterday evenings email

"We would like to inform that since you an S1 holder (certification that verifies that you are paying social insurances in another EU country) then you are excluded from the contributions of GHS."



Thank you for contacting us, we remain at your disposal.

GHS Contact Centre
Health Insurance Organisation

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Slightly off-topic, but is anyone else being charged for medications by their GESY GP?

We hold EHIC cards, but are still being asked to pay.
Is this correct?

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I'll be back!

EHIC system is completely independent of GESY system.

Yes, everyone who sees a doctor through the GESY system has to pay for medications and tests (eg blood, X-rays) up to a certain annual limit.

We are exempt of payments because of my S1 and we also sent for confirmation letters of exemption
Some of our more expensive medicines do carry a small charge the rest have come up as no charge

After going to the chemist for medicines using our GESY ...we get an email through telling how much we have left of our 150 euro each a year GESY medicines account
Not sure how this would all work for expensive Cancer treatment medicines

We have not yet used xrays, mri,s bloods yet...they come into GESY charges this June 2020

As a pensioner I have got 10 free visits per year to see a gp ...unless I have a chronic condition ...which can be seen FOC

My husband is younger ...he has 8 free visits per year to see a gp...again unless being seen for a chronic condition ...which would remain FOC

This is the way that we see and have been explained our GESY

X-Rays, MRI,s and blood tests / laboratory tests and other diagnostic tests have been available since GESY started last year.

Just that it has taken time for some places to register their facilities, just as more Specialist Doctors are being added to the list once they meet the GESY criteria.

Ah okay .. as we where informed differently

I will recheck as due my annual blood tests

Cheers

Thank you Alexis and Dave for your replies.

Migmogs. What have you done with your exemption letters. Do you have to send a copy of them somewhere. My query was what do we do with them now we have them.
Thanks Lynne

I haven,t done anything with them to be honest Lynne
I have just kept them for if needed

Go to the citizens advice place in Paphos they will tell you what to do...

Thanks allapaul.

When I find out what to do migmogs I'll let you know.

Lynne

Thank you Lynne

The letters will be required when you do your tax returns so you do not have to pay 1.7% off your pension that is what I understand. Cheers

As mentioned previously: ''When I applied for our S1 exemption to pay contributions to GESY letter from Nicosia I was told it was required to complete the Cyprus Tax Return. As an accountant deals with our tax returns I sent her a copy and she has just completed the 2019 tax return''.

If you complete your own tax return you don't need to show or give the letter to any one else. It is just for personal tax records.

Absolutely - spot on!

However Alexis, Migmogs says she doesn't as she has an S1!

We both have an S1, so should not be asked to pay then?

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I'll be back!

GHS covers prescribed medicines only. Which medicines are under prescription and which are not, is determined by a Minister’s of Health Decree and it doesn’t depend on whether pharmacists used to dispense them without a prescription for whatever reason (e.g. there was an older prescription, they are not strictly controlled etc.) prior to the GHS implementation. However, it is understood that medicines involving serious or rare illnesses, whether acute or chronic, will be covered by the GHS.
Within the GHS context, all beneficiaries are required to pay a small amount of money (Co-payment) per medicine they receive in order to avoid the phenomenon of over-prescribing and abuse, which, in addition to economic waste, may expose the patient to unnecessary risk. This amount of money cannot exceed a maximum amount of 150euro (or 75 euro for some beneficiary categories) per beneficiary and per annum, so as not to penalize people who need healthcare services often. This amount has been determined to one euro (€1 euro) per medicine and per prescription. Even in the event that the doctor prescribes two boxes of the same medicine due to increased dosage, the amount the beneficiary will pay is still 1 euro.

In addition to the Co-payment, beneficiaries may need to pay Contribution II. Contribution II is the cost difference between the cheapest alternative which is fully reimbursed by the GHS and the prescribed product.
If the beneficiary prefers the more expensive product, he/she will be burdened by the cost difference between the cheapest medicine, within a given category, and the prescribed medicine (Contribution II).
At least one product of every single category included in the Catalogue of Medicinal Products will be fully reimbursed by the GHS so that the beneficiaries will not need to pay Contribution II in the case they choose it.
https://www.gesy.org.cy/sites/Sites?d=Desktop&locale=en_US&lookuphost=/en-us/&lookuppage=hiopharmaceuticalcarefaq

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

We also have the S1 form and do not have to pay 1.70% contributions to finance GESY and have the letter to prove it.

However, we do have to pay for medicines and tests, as does everyone else and M.A.D. has gone into more detail in his post.

The S1 form means you and your dependents are exempt from paying contributions to finance GESY because the UK is paying your contributions to Cyprus on your behalf.

Information from GESY website: https://www.gesy.org.cy/launchpad.html

1. Contributions
The main GHS source of financing is contributions. The payment of the contributions for the first phase will start on 1 March 2019 and for the full implementation on 1 March 2020.

The Contributors’ Categories are:
Employees
Employers
State
Self-employed
Pensioners
Income-earners
Goverment Officials
Persons responsible for the payment of remuneration to Goverment Officials


2. Co-Payments and Personal Contribution I and II
Wherever applicable, the beneficiaries, upon receiving healthcare services, will pay directly to the providers for the services they receive:

Per pharmaceutical product 1.00
Per medical device or medical supplies 1.00
Per lab test or group of lab tests * (note 2) 1.00
Per visit to a nurse or midwife 6.00
Per healthcare service performed by a specialist doctor in radiology/diagnostic radiology 10.00
Per visit to allied health professionals 10.00
Per visit to a hospital to receive healthcare services in cases of accidents and emergencies 10.00

Perhaps best for people to either check the GESY website or contact GESY direct with their particular queries:

Website: www.gesy.org.cy
Telephone: Free call 17000 when calling from Cyprus or (+357) 22017000 when calling from abroad
Email at info@gesy.org.cy

I prefer to use the email system as then I have a written record for future reference. As M.A.D has already demonstrated, GESY is very responsive to emails.