According to ELSTAT , the percentage of persons with self-declared unmet needs for medical examination or treatment (due to several reasons including financial barriers, long waiting times and traveling distances, lack of time etc.) increased from 4.1% in 2009 to 11.2% in 2013. Taking into account that all citizens could visit almost at no charge either general practitioners or outpatient clinics in hospitals, Kentikelenis et al.  concluded that such reductions (during the first two years of the crisis) reflect most probably supply-side problems: hospital budgets were cut by 40%, many clinics were understaffed due to the suspension of public hiring, shortages in medical supplies were encountered rather frequently whilst patients in many cases had to bribe medical staff in order to be given priority especially in overloaded hospitals with large queues. It has also been reported that although physician visits for issues related to chronic diseases have been largely met, this was accomplished with an increase in out-of-pocket expenditures and cuts in family budgets . It is worth noting that the percentage of such illegal payments for health care services in Greece has been estimated to be more than 20% of the total private expenditure  whilst the out-of-pocket payments in Greece was one of the highest among OECD countries .