The government wants to take health care reform a step further. At Tuesday’s Summer Council of Ministers, the turquoise-green coalition reached agreement on 100 additional statutory health insurance funds, expanding psychosocial care and improving the supply of medicines.
The package of measures, worth up to 200 million euros, includes 100 additional jobs for statutory health insurance fund doctors by the end of the year and a ‘starting bonus’ of up to 100,000 euros for statutory health insurance practices, in particular for gynaecology, paediatrics and youth medicine and family medicine. The creation of a specialist in general and family medicine is also planned. A corresponding amendment to the Doctors Act will be submitted for review in the summer.
The supply of medicines has also been causing problems recently, as asthma sprays for children were difficult to obtain in the winter. There will now be a warehouse for important active substances, to which pharmacies have access to prepare medicines themselves in case of supply bottlenecks. The cabinet also promises more transparency in the event of supply bottlenecks. The free psychological counseling and psychotherapy for children will be further expanded. Prevention programs should also be intensified to reduce serious illness and treat it early.
Nehammer: “Health is the greatest asset”
“Health is our greatest asset and our goal is to improve a good system,” emphasized Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) at the presentation on Tuesday. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) underlined this and assured that the other “big steps” would now follow: “We will deal with it.” But that will not happen overnight, said the Greens leader.
Of course, structural reforms in the health sector are not yet a foregone conclusion. To this end, negotiations are continuing in the context of financial clearing. Recently, the federal and state governments had aligned themselves with unkindness.
Source: Krone
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