Headwinds for ÖGK's Savings Plans

The savings package planned by the Board of Directors and General Assembly of the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) faced initial criticism on Wednesday. It was deemed "unacceptable" to demand higher contributions from pensioners while also worsening the services, according to the ÖVP Senior Citizens' Association. The Vienna Medical Association called for a "genuine enhancement" of services in the outpatient sector, "instead of saving the system to death".

According to the ÖGK's plans, MRI and CT scans are to require approval again by the end of the year. The personal cost share for orthopedic custom shoes will be increased, and there will be a cost contribution for patient transport. An electronic approval for physiotherapy and contributions for determining vitamin D levels without medical indication are also under discussion. At the ÖGK itself, every second retirement is not to be replaced this year.

Senior Citizens' Association President "Annoyed"

"If Chairman (Peter, note) McDonald believes that the rehabilitation of the ÖGK can be carried out on the backs of the older generation, he is gravely mistaken!" railed Senior Citizens' Association President Ingrid Korosec (ÖVP) against her party colleague. It cannot be that measures are decided in the Board of Directors without prior discussions at the expense of this large group, demanded the "determined and annoyed" Senior Citizens' Association President, according to the press release, for immediate talks. She also criticized the announced expansion of electronic administration. This is only acceptable if the analog way remains possible. "The ÖGK is there for everyone - and must not become a burden for those who need it most."

The SPÖ-affiliated Pensioners' Association also described the savings plans in a press release as "socially unbalanced" and "absolutely unacceptable". Older or chronically ill people, in particular, rely on the help of patient transport. "Increasing contributions while simultaneously cutting services - this plan for fund rehabilitation is a rehabilitation plan at the expense of the socially weakest," criticized the interim President of the Pensioners' Association Helmut Bieler, who also opposes an "Online Only" administration.

Criticism Also from Vienna Medical Association

The Vienna Medical Association is concerned about the planned approval requirement for MRI, CT, and possibly physiotherapy. "Instead of developing solutions together, measures are being communicated through the media, the specific design of which - especially regarding the electronic approval system - is completely unclear," criticized the Vice President and Chairwoman of the outpatient doctors, Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied. Further extensions of waiting times for patients or even service cuts are just as unacceptable as an additional bureaucratic burden for practices. Instead, she called for an "appropriate tariff-effective increase" to keep doctors in the insurance system. The offer of four percent on the tariffs is "a first step and a constructive basic foundation for serious negotiations".

Meanwhile, a survey by the Kommunalverlag was presented on Wednesday, according to which rural communities are concerned about their medical care. Almost 70 percent of the 619 surveyed (vice) mayors, office managers, municipal councilors, and employees see the supply of their community endangered by the lack of insurance doctors in the next five years. It is urgently necessary to get doctors back into the insurance system, demanded Edgar Wutscher, Vice President of the Austrian Medical Association and Federal Chairman of the outpatient doctors, according to the press release at the presentation. For example, insurance doctors should be allowed to work part-time, bureaucratic hurdles in modern work models such as job sharing, group practices, or interdisciplinary collaboration forms should be removed, and a uniform service catalog "without service-hostile limits" must be introduced. Additionally, the possibility of dispensing medication at the doctor's office would make individual practices more attractive again.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.