ABSTRACT
Greece's health system is characterised by a surplus of specialists and a deficit of primary health care services. This chapter describes the decision-making process in developing priorities in health policy. It focuses on and analyses specific policies and priorities including official priorities, inequalities in health and health services and the provision of health care, community care and preventive services. The process of policy development and priority setting is mostly determined by negotiation, frequently non-transparent, between groups that possess considerable political or monopolistic power. The chapter examines the regulation of technology and technology assessment. It discusses the need for developing a coherent public health policy in Greece and suggests a number of policy objectives. Despite efforts to introduce more objective processes, it is essentially the Minister of Health who decides the allocation of the health budget between primary and secondary care and specific institutions.
