Austerity destroying the physical health of the Greek people

[Redfairen]

Researchers say they have found new evidence that Greece's financial crisis is taking a toll on the health of its citizens, including rising rates of HIV, tuberculosis, depression and even infant deaths.

Since the economic crisis hit several years ago, the government's health spending has been slashed and hundreds of thousands of people have been left without health insurance. As cuts have been made to AIDS prevention programs, rates of HIV and tuberculosis in drug users have spiked.

Previous studies have found suicides in Greece have increased by about 45 percent between 2007 and 2011. The new research found the prevalence of major depression more than doubled from 2008 to 2011, citing economic hardship as a major factor.

.......

"Some pregnant women no longer have access to health care, therefore the complications later on in their pregnancy can be more pronounced," he said. Kentikelenis and colleagues also found infant deaths, which had previously been falling, jumped by more than 40 percent between 2008 and 2010. He said that was likely linked to babies not getting enough to eat and fewer medical check-ups, as families cut off from state health care couldn't afford private treatment. The research was published online Friday in the journal, Lancet.

.......

Simonnot also said they had seen rising numbers of pregnant women unable to afford hospital visits and diabetics who had to choose between buying food or insulin.

"We see people in conditions I've never seen in my life," she said, referring to patients who have turned up at clinics with chunks of their flesh missing.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/greek-financial-crisis-tied-worsening-health-0

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Thank you for posting

Bookmarking for later.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

2. At least the wealthy have their money still, and their tax breaks.

[magical thyme]

3. well, it's ok because it's their fault because Greeks are lazy

or so says a co-worker of mine, who knows my heritage is half-Greek.



Seriously, the world better worry about this. The last thing we need is more help for tb.

[hack89]

6. They are very industrious

unfortunately they expend a lot of the energy avoiding taxes. The Greek shadow economy is one of the largest in the world.

[magical thyme]

8. spare me. nt

[hack89]

9. Here are some facts

A native of Greece, Tsoutsoura knew tax evasion was a fact of life in her home country. But just how pervasive was it? She and Morse, along with Nikolaos Artavanis, assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, were determined find out.

The researchers realized Greek banks had a strong financial incentive to calibrate their clients' true incomes against what they reported to the government in order to determine how much loan money to offer. So Morse, Tsoutsoura, and Artavanis obtained access to loan data from one of the country's large banks and compared it with government data. They documented what they found in their paper, "Tax Evasion Across Industries: Soft Credit Evidence From Greece."

They found that self-employed, highly educated professionals such as lawyers, doctors, and accountants evaded more income tax than lower income occupations. In sum, tax evasion by the self employed was worth at least a stunning total of $38 billion (€28 billion) in 2009.

Assuming that money would have been taxed at 40 percent, the lost revenue was equivalent to almost a third of that year's budget deficit shortfall of $48 billion (€35.4 billion).

http://www.chicagobooth.edu/magazine/35/2/feature1.aspx

[hack89]

10. Nearly 50% of Greek businesses commit tax fraud, says finance ministry

Nationwide spot checks by Greek tax inspectors have found that almost every other business is cheating the taxman.

Despite repeated campaigns by successive governments, tax fraud remains a major problem in debt-hobbled Greece.

The finance ministry said Friday that 731 of 1,465 companies checked from 25 July to 5 August had violated tax laws. The highest rate of non-compliance – 85% – was on the islands of Evia and Skyros. The tourist destinations of Mykonos, Santorini and Crete had rates of over 56% of the businesses investigated.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/greek-business-tax-fraud

[magical thyme]

11. I can't see you. Welcome both to ignore.

[woo me with science]

4. The pain and misery caused by these corporate vultures

is wholly unnecessary.

This is evil, period.

[jsr]

5. Greece is like America, the rich dont pay taxes

http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2011/06/greece-america-rich-dont-pay-taxes

The scale of Greek tax cheating was at least as incredible as its scope: an estimated two-thirds of Greek doctors reported incomes under 12,000 euros a year—which meant, because incomes below that amount weren’t taxable, that even plastic surgeons making millions a year paid no tax at all. The problem wasn’t the law—there was a law on the books that made it a jailable offense to cheat the government out of more than 150,000 euros—but its enforcement. ‘If the law was enforced,’ the tax collector said, ‘every doctor in Greece would be in jail.’ I laughed, and he gave me a stare. ‘I am completely serious.’

[hack89]

7. It is more like the entire Greek professional class

anyone who is self employed works hard to avoid paying taxes.