Greeks, Seeking Access to Health Care, Stuff Envelopes Full of Cash - Forbes

Greeks, Seeking Access to Health Care, Stuff Envelopes Full of Cash - Forbes: n the land where Hippocrates was born, and the principle of selfless medicine invented, it has come to this: desperate Greek patients stuffing envelopes full of cash, in order to convince a doctor to see them. So reports Charles Forelle in today’s Wall Street Journal, where the end result of socialized medicine is on full display.

“Like nearly all Greeks,” writes Forelle, “[George] Gianakouras was covered by a state social-security fund, which paid €10,000 ($13,600) for [his] hospital bill. There was one more thing: Mr. Gianakouras said he gave his surgeon ‘black money’—€5,000 in cash—to perform the operation. ‘If you don’t pay,’ he said, ‘you don’t get anything done.’” It has gotten to the point where the hallways of Greek hospitals are plastered with those circular no-smoking signs, with the red slash through the middle, except that the lit cigarette has been replaced by a stuffed envelope.