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The organisation says beneficiaries have paid a total of \u20ac2.5 billion between 2016 and 2025 in health contributions on survivor pensions.<\/p>\n
The issue dates back to Law 4387\/2016, known as the Katrougalos law, which increased the health contribution on main pensions from 4% to 6% and introduced a 6% contribution on supplementary pensions and other pension benefits.<\/p>\n
Where a person receives more than one pension, the 6% contribution applies separately to each pension.<\/p>\n
The measure remained in place under Law 4670\/2020, known as the Vroutsis law, which maintained the 6% health contribution across pensions and pension benefits, including survivor and orphan pensions.<\/p>\n
The 6% contribution on survivor pensions<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n ENYPEKK argues that the impact becomes particularly significant for widows who already pay a 6% health contribution on their own retirement pension while also paying another 6% on the survivor pension they receive following their husband\u2019s death.<\/p>\n The same system applies to orphaned children, who pay the health contribution on the pensions they receive until they reach the applicable age limit, generally 18 or 24.<\/p>\n The organisation describes the contribution as an unfair and excessive burden, particularly when it applies to relatively low survivor and orphan pensions.<\/p>\n More than \u20ac321 million collected in 2025<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Official figures for August 2026 show that Greece had 375,886 recipients of main survivor pensions, with an average gross monthly pension of \u20ac776.65.<\/p>\n After the health contribution, the average amount falls to \u20ac733.81, according to the figures cited.<\/p>\n ENYPEKK estimates that widows and widowers paid a total of:<\/p>\n The amounts relate to the 6% health contribution deducted from main and supplementary pensions and dividends, including the contribution applied to survivor pensions.<\/p>\n Pensioners call for the levy to be abolished<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Representatives of pensioners are calling for the 6% EOPYY health contribution on survivor and orphan pensions to be abolished.<\/p>\n They argue that the charge unfairly affects spouses and children who receive benefits originating from insurance contributions paid by people who have since died.<\/p>\n ENYPEKK has called the contribution an unjustified and unlawful horizontal deduction, particularly when it applies to low-value survivor and orphan pensions.<\/p>\n The organisation is seeking the immediate and retrospective abolition of the 6% contribution for widows and orphans.<\/p>\n It argues that the measure represents an unprecedented transfer of income from pensioners to the state, with the greatest burden falling on lower-income pensioners receiving survivor and orphan pensions.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n