Controversial bill – Are patients from Lower Austria “too expensive” for Vienna?

This is not real neighborly help: because so-called ‘surgery tourists’ would cost the city of Vienna a billion euros a year, SPÖ city councilor Peter Hacker has announced the introduction of upper limits for guest patients – with the exception of acute cases. Patients who need to undergo planned surgeries must go to their home states of Lower Austria and Burgenland.

But Hacker’s calculation is highly doubted. Vienna receives 26 percent from hospital funding, while Lower Austria receives only 14.5 percent. The state of Lower Austria therefore contributes almost 500 million euros annually to the compensation of guest patients in Vienna.

ÖVP Regional Councilor Ludwig Schleritzko, responsible for clinics: “If Vienna now wants to set boundaries between the federal states, especially in the health sector, then we have to reconsider our fundamental coexistence in Austria. Especially in healthcare, we need to create synergies, collaborate and support each other in a time like now. I say this with deep conviction and cannot emphasize it enough: people’s health is not suited to political change.”

FPÖ: “There are many second homes from Vienna in Lower Austria”
FPÖ health spokesman Richard Punz has already drawn attention to the problem. He says: “Especially in the densely populated eastern region, it is often common for many Lower Austrians to go to a hospital in Vienna. Conversely, there are also plenty of Viennese with a second home in Lower Austria.” The health issue is likely to continue to spark feverish debates…