Costs are exploding: – Is our healthcare system still affordable?

There is currently a heated debate between the federal and state governments over the financing of the system. No progress was made at all during a meeting between state health officials and Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens). The biggest point of contention is and remains money.

Minister Rauch warned at the beginning of this year
The federal government has provided states and social security with more than two billion euros per year for health and care. Health Minister Johannes Rauch of the Greens demands reforms in return. In an interview with ‘Krone’ early this year, he warned that ‘the system will collapse if it is not reformed’.

A structural reform is planned based on the principle ‘digital, first outpatient, first inpatient’. Instead of outpatient clinics in hospitals, people should be cared for by established, statutory health insurers. An initial clarification should take place digitally in the future – by telephone via the health hotline 1450, via chat or via app.

The negotiations have been going on for six months
The federal and state governments have been negotiating for six months. The federal government has proposed a number of measures, Rauch says. This includes strengthening the private practice space with additional checkout points, especially in primary care, an increased offering outside peak hours and at weekends, including a modernization of the rate catalogue. In addition, the expansion of specialized outpatient clinics in hospitals and outsourced hospital units is planned to avoid inpatient treatment of patients.

But above all, the countries want more money. “We largely agree on the reform measures. But there is still a discrepancy in financing,” says Carinthian State Councilor Beate Prettner (SPÖ), representative of the current chairman state, in an interview with the “Krone”.

The financial burden has shifted to the states’ detriment in recent years. In some countries, fifty to sixty health insurers are empty and patients turn to outpatient clinics. This leads to a shift in costs and financing. “For infrastructure alone, we have a 20 percent increase in costs (construction costs) compared to the pre-pandemic period. For oncology medicines there is a cost increase of approximately 220 percent. In 2010 we paid approximately 8.4 million euros to the state hospitals in Carinthia, now 26.5 million euros. And that is just one example of many,” says Prettner.

The states spend 3.5 billion euros on all outpatient clinics in hospitals throughout Austria. We would need an extra 1 billion euros, the federal government is only offering 450 million euros. This means that we cannot even cover the increase in costs. We expect huge salary increases.”