The Federal Curia of Resident Doctors supports the corresponding demand from the Senior Citizens’ Association: “Health care is essential in the current situation.”
Vienna (OTS) – The Federal Curia of resident doctors in the Austrian Medical Association approved the recent move by the Senior Citizens’ Association to abolish the age limit of 70 for health insurance contracts. “In the current situation, we simply cannot afford to do without doctors who voluntarily want to continue working in the health insurance system. Every health insurance position that we can keep staffed helps us,” says Edgar Wutscher, Vice President of the Austrian Medical Association and Chairman of the Federal Curia for resident doctors. However, voluntariness is central. Nobody should be prevented from taking their deserved retirement. But it is also clear that lifting the age limit cannot be a sustainable solution for the cash register. “Fundamental improvements are necessary for this: making health insurance contracts more flexible, reducing bureaucracy, abolishing obstacles to performance such as limitations and degressions, as well as the introduction of a uniform catalog of benefits are the points where we have to start in order to change the situation for the better in the long term,” emphasizes Wutscher.
“There is great interest among colleagues in working as statutory health insurance physicians beyond the age limit of 70,” says Dietmar Bayer, deputy chairman of the Federal Curia for resident doctors. “Why should you refuse if someone voluntarily agrees to continue working and help secure supplies in their immediate environment?” asks Bayer. Removing the age restriction would bring further benefits for everyone involved. “We lose a huge wealth of experience with every retirement. If this were to be available to patients and – for example as part of a group practice – to young doctors for a longer period of time, many could benefit from it,” says Bayer.
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