Austrian Health Report: Trust in the Healthcare System "Severely Damaged"
More than three-quarters of Austrians expect that there will be restrictions on health insurance benefits in the coming years. "The outlook is bleak," said Reinhard Raml from the IFES Institute on Wednesday in Vienna during the presentation of the Austrian Health Report 2025 commissioned by the pharmaceutical company Sandoz. Trust in the current healthcare system is also "severely damaged." Concerns about medication shortages persist.
Majority Expects Significant Cuts in Healthcare
A total of 80 percent of the approximately 1,000 respondents in July believe "definitely" or "rather likely" that politics will also make significant cuts in healthcare. Almost as many fear that in the future a private supplementary insurance will be needed to receive good medical care. Raml spoke of a feeling of "having to buy better quality and faster treatments." With the current healthcare system, "only half are satisfied," explained the IFES director, "the other half are not at all to slightly satisfied."
Mental and Psychological Health Rated Worse Since Pandemic
The Austrian Health Report also surveyed, as in previous years, the assessment of one's own general health. Here, as in 2024, around 20 percent of respondents rate themselves as "very good" and almost 50 percent as "good." However, this is less than before COVID-19. The pandemic has "led to a deterioration in subjective health," emphasized Raml. Younger people also rate their mental health significantly more restricted than older generations.
More Independence in Drug Production Demanded
64 percent feel very to moderately threatened by longer supply shortages of medications, according to the survey. 86 percent consider it "very" or "rather" important that medications are also produced in Austria. "We are living in a time of geopolitical upheaval," said Walter Feichtinger, President of the Center for Strategic Analysis in Vienna. Political adversaries could exert pressure on Western governments with high dependency on suppliers through energy and medication supply. Europe must "look after itself" and become "more independent, self-reliant, and autonomous."
For about five years, it has been noticeable that supply shortages are becoming more severe, explained Ulrike Holzgrabe, a professor at the University of Würzburg in Germany. 68 percent of active ingredient production occurs in India and China, only 24 percent in Europe, said the expert on strategic resilience in drug production. However, bringing production back is difficult, and with the EU's Critical Medicines Act, with stockpiling and early warning systems, too little has been done in this direction.
Price for European Production as a Problem
"We spend too little on the production of medications," said Holzgrabe. Marco Pucci, President of Sandoz in Austria, agrees. "Our strategy is always to produce from Europe for Europe," he assured. The international pharmaceutical company operates the "last major production site for penicillin in Europe" in Kundl, Tyrol. He called for measures at the European and national levels - such as a "paradigm shift away from the lowest bidder principle towards the best bidder principle" as well as a price adjustment for medications in line with inflation.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.