Health Insurance, e-card and sick leave: What you should know in Austria
Anyone working in Austria automatically comes into contact with social insurance. It is an important part of social security and protects people in situations such as illness, accidents, reduced ability to work and old age. For everyday working life, health insurance, the e-card and sick leave are especially important: they help you understand what happens when you become ill, need medical help or cannot work.
In this article
What is social insurance?
Social insurance is a central part of Austria’s social security system. In a narrower sense, it consists of three areas:
pension insurance
health insurance
accident insurance
For employees, this means: Anyone who works and earns money in Austria must be registered with social insurance. Austria follows the principle of compulsory insurance. Registration for compulsory insurance is carried out by the employer before work begins.
What does health insurance mean?
Health insurance is the part of social insurance that becomes important when you are ill or need medical help. It helps make necessary treatment possible – for example at doctors’ offices, in hospital or when you need medication.
Important in everyday life:
Take your e-card with you
Take your e-card to every medical appointment. It is the key to medical treatment in Austria.
Contract or private doctor?
With contract doctors, many services are billed directly to the health insurance fund. With private doctors, you often have to pay the bill yourself first.
Not everything is free
Many important services are covered. However, there may still be co-payments, private services or costs that are not covered.
In Austria, many services work through so-called benefits in kind. This means: If you go to a contract doctor, for example, the service is often billed directly to the health insurance fund. So you do not have to pay for every treatment yourself first. Different rules may apply for private doctors or private institutions.
For many employees, the Österreichische Gesundheitskasse, or ÖGK is responsible. It is Austria’s largest statutory health insurance fund and supports around 7.6 million people. Its services include benefits in kind such as medical care, medication, hospital treatment, medical home nursing, medical aids and patient transport. There are also cash benefits, for example sickness benefit, maternity allowance, reintegration allowance or rehabilitation allowance. The ÖGK is also responsible for registration, insurance and contribution matters. This means: It processes registrations and deregistrations of people with compulsory insurance, determines insurance obligations and calculates and collects contributions.
Good to know in construction:
For construction workers, there are also other important institutions in addition to health insurance. These include the BUAK for certain construction-related entitlements and the Construction and Woodworkers’ Union for labour law representation and collective agreement topics.
What is an e-card?
The e-card is the Austrian social insurance card. Doctors use it to check whether you have health insurance. That is why the ÖGK describes it as the “key” to accessing medical services in Austria.
You should take your e-card to every medical appointment. It is used, for example, at doctors’ offices, in healthcare facilities and in many hospitals. It can also be important at the pharmacy, for example if you want to redeem an e-prescription. Important: The e-card is not “the insurance itself”. It does not simply show everything you have or need. Instead, it helps check your insurance status electronically. According to the ÖGK, personal medical data is not stored on the e-card.
What should I do if I'm ill?
If you are ill and cannot work, you must inform your employer as soon as possible. This is called reporting sick.
Inform your company
Contact your employer as early as possible – ideally before work begins. This can be done by phone, by message or in the way agreed in your company.
Contact a doctor
Have a doctor check whether you are unable to work. The doctor can put you on sick leave.
Focus on getting better
Use the time to recover. Follow medical advice and avoid anything that could make your recovery worse.
Stay in touch
Let your company know once it is clear how long you are likely to be absent or when you can return to work.
What does sick leave mean?
Sick leave, called Krankenstand in Austria, means that you cannot do your job because of illness or an accident. In social insurance, this is called “incapacity for work due to illness”. Whether you are unable to work is determined by the doctor treating you.
Important:
Being ill and being unable to work are not always the same thing. What matters is whether you can do your specific job for health reasons. On a construction site, this may be assessed differently than in another type of work.
Sick leave generally begins on the day the doctor determines that you are unable to work. If you see a contract doctor, the ÖGK is informed about your sick leave. If you see a private doctor, you may have to forward the confirmation to the health insurance fund yourself. You can find more information on the ÖGK website here.
Sick leave confirmation: What must it include?
Your employer can ask for a sick leave confirmation – even if you are only on sick leave for one day.
The confirmation includes:
the start of your sick leave
the expected duration of your sick leave
the reason for your incapacity for work, for example illness, accident or work accident
Important:
You do not have to tell your company your exact medical diagnosis.
If your sick leave lasts longer, your company may ask for another confirmation after an appropriate period of time. That is why it is important to report sick in time, follow the rules in your company and let them know if anything changes.
What applies during sick leave?
Sick leave is not a holiday. It is important that you avoid anything that could make your recovery worse. Follow medical instructions – for example regarding medication, bed rest or agreed times when you are allowed to leave home. During sick leave, you generally have to be reachable at your registered home address. If you are temporarily staying at another address, you must inform your health insurance provider. The ÖGK may also check whether you are still unable to work. If you are invited to a medical check-up, you must follow this invitation.