In Austria, there is again talk of an outpatient reimbursement. This means that patients must bear the costs themselves if they are treated in a hospital without a referral or without an emergency. Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) expressed his negative opinion on Wednesday.
He thinks “nothing at all.” There will be no refund of the ambulance fee for him. The debate started with Harald Mayer, the second vice president of the Austrian Medical Association (ÖAK) and president of the Federal Curia for salaried doctors. In the daily newspaper “Presse”, he pleaded without exception for “full reimbursement of costs”, provided that patients do not adhere to a certain “path”. A corresponding transfer is required for this. Treatment costs in a hospital can amount to several thousand euros.
According to Mayer, there should also be no ceiling on costs. His proposal is currently being discussed in Austria, but so far mainly with counterarguments. “Ambulance reimbursement has already failed once, and failure is inevitable this time as well,” said ÖAK deputy chairman Andreas Huss. Only a small part of the ÖAK, namely the curia for salaried doctors, would support the reimbursement. The German Medical Association spoke of a fine for patients. Instead, other measures are needed, such as expanding private care and good offers in primary care centers.
Doskozil: Too few cash registers
The president of the GPA trade union, Barbara Teiber, and the governor of Burgenland, Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ), feel the same way. According to Doskozil, the problem of two-tier medicine must finally be tackled at its roots. Across Austria there would be too few or empty health insurance offices with a simultaneous rapid increase in the number of doctors chosen. Training should be reorganized, and there should also be a guaranteed medical on-call service and sustainable financing of hospitals.
All this would relieve the ambulances. Of course, patient flows should be better controlled, but punishments are completely in the wrong direction, says Teiber.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
