Access to healthcare in Upper Austria must not depend on income. What is needed is real security of supply with short waiting times
AK President Andreas Stangl
Linz (OTS) – The billion patients announced when the health insurance companies were merged was nothing more than a marketing gimmick. The reality? Our healthcare system is increasingly becoming a two-tier system of medicine. “Access to healthcare in Upper Austria must not depend on income. What is needed is real security of supply with short waiting times
“, clarifies AK President Andreas Stangl.
An IFES survey commissioned by the AK Upper Austria confirms that our healthcare system is “sick”. Only less than half of those surveyed (47%) rate the system positively. One in six people is little or not at all satisfied. As you get older, satisfaction continues to decline. From 56 percent of those under 30 to around 45 percent of those over 40. Half of those surveyed (50%) view statutory health care as critical to poor. The most common problems: Waiting too long for appointments. Or you can’t get a specialist appointment at all because no new patients are being admitted.
The reasons why more and more people are going to their local doctors: Finding an appointment quickly (54%), the expected quality of treatment (45%) or no appointment in a health insurance practice (20%). 28 percent of those surveyed already have private supplementary insurance.
Our demands:
- The billion patients promised was never fulfilled. It is high time that this money finally flows.
- The oe. ÖGK reserves must be invested in our federal state and thus used for patients in Upper Austria.
- Immediate involvement of the ÖGK state office in the planning for the expansion of statutory health insurance doctor positions. The 17 additional statutory health insurance doctor positions promised for Upper Austria must be filled. In addition, measures are needed to quickly fill the approximately 50 vacancies that are already open. In the medium term, Upper Austria will need 135 more statutory health insurance doctor positions than before. In health insurance, real self-administration is needed instead of parity between insured persons and employers.
Questions & Contact:
Chamber of Labor Upper Austria – Communication
Mag. Michael Petermair
+43 (0)50 6906 2190
michael.petermair@akooe.at
ooe.arbeiterkammer.at