Sparks are flying in the dispute over health care reform. Because Minister Rauch (Greens) plans to emasculate the House, the doctors’ representation is threatening to terminate the overall contract with the health insurance fund. The Green politician reacted decidedly relaxed on Friday: “I will not be discouraged or intimidated by threats,” he said.
The threatening backdrop created here is “bad style,” Rauch said Friday. He called on the medical association to cooperate constructively after “having been preoccupied with themselves for only six months”. His healthcare reform aims to secure the system in the long term, with a focus on patients.
“Cancellation of the contract is no problem”
The Minister of Green Health was not impressed that the Medical Association risks being left without a contract, as his reform plans mean they will lose their say in the establishment of outpatient clinics and general contracts. “If you conduct a survey among practicing physicians today, terminating the contract is not a problem,” Rauch emphasizes. Many doctors are irritated by the chamber’s behavior. He appealed to the interest group ‘not to be terrified of a thousand things’.
The minister made his comments on the sidelines of a press conference at which a week of action against vaccinations in pharmacies was announced. From November 13 to 18, all Austrian pharmacies will provide information about missing vaccination protection and boosters. If desired, vaccinations already received can also be added to the e-vaccination certificate free of charge. However, pharmacists themselves should not miss a trick.
Vaccination in pharmacies ‘failed because of the medical profession’
“This failed due to the resistance of an interest group, in particular the medical profession,” Minister Johannes Rauch explains. Chamber President Ulrike Mursch-Edlmayr also regretted that the time has not yet come. “But we are working on it,” reassured the department head. He also explained that the doctors’ criticism of the amendment to the Pharmacy Act was “incomprehensible”. Mursch-Edlmayr demanded that the law be “read first” before criticizing it and calling it “false information.”
In the dispute with the medical association, ÖGK chairman Andreas Huss represented the Minister of Health on Friday. He emphasized in the Ö1 “Morgenjournal” that the state and social security must decide on a regional structure plan in the future and that the medical association should only have an informal voice. She should be involved, but should not be given the opportunity to “prolong such proceedings,” Huss said. If the structure plan provides for the establishment of a primary care center or an independent outpatient clinic in a community, the medical association should no longer be able to object to this.
“The system is being destroyed purely for the sake of power.”
The Burgenland Medical Association on Friday maintained its sharp criticism of health care policy reform plans. “Solidarity-based health care is being destroyed out of sheer thoughts of power,” President Christian Toth said in a broadcast. He fears that the social partnership will be undermined or even abolished and announced that he “will not sit still, but will take action”: “This is unacceptable, a blow to a health care system based on solidarity, even if it can has improved, but has proven itself overall.”
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.
