Guest Patients: Hacker Contemplates Further Tightening

"It is conceivable to introduce separate waiting times," Hacker said in the "Kronen Zeitung" (Sunday edition). Patients from other federal states would then have to wait longer for a surgery appointment than those from Vienna. "But we are not at this point yet," Hacker added.

We have "a problem with guest patients from other federal states" in Vienna's hospitals, Hacker confirmed. Therefore, the introduced upper limit will remain "in any case," Hacker said. "And we will see if we need to adjust it further." However, he still hopes that "the neighbouring federal states in the East region will come to their senses, that it is not enough to finance only 70 or 75 percent of the hospital treatments of their own population and let others take care of the rest."

Salzburg's Governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP), who is currently also chairman of the LH Conference, showed understanding for Hacker. He said they also know the problem in Salzburg with patients from Upper Austria, and Vienna is particularly affected. Haslauer pointed out that costs in areas such as health care and child care are skyrocketing and advocated for analysing the financial flows once again. As soon as a new federal government is in place, talks should be started for a fairer burden sharing, in preparation for the next financial equalisation negotiations, Haslauer suggested.

Doskozil Counters, FPÖ Finds Proposal "Absurd"

However, Burgenland's Governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) countered his party colleague Hacker: "This is not how you can treat people who have usually paid into the health system for years." Battles over the distribution of tax funds should not be fought at the expense of patients and Vienna has supported the financial equalisation itself, he said. There are clear legal and contractual regulations for the treatment of guest patients. "I assume that laws and contracts are adhered to in Austria - if not, we will use all possibilities to legally defend ourselves."

Criticism came from the FPÖ: Hacker's proposal to extend waiting times for patients from other federal states is "absurd," said the health spokesman of the Viennese FPÖ, Wolfgang Seidl. "Instead of playing patient groups against each other, we finally need efficient management and a fair distribution of resources."

(APA/Red)

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