If you have health insurance in Austria, you generally have free access to the following services throughout Austria:

  • Visits to the doctor
    These include general practitioners, specialists, and dentists who have a health insurance contract ("contracted doctors"). You can find a list of these doctors on your health insurance website.
  • Hospital stays
    Patients only have to pay a small contribution per day of care in hospital. On average, this is around €14 per day.
  • Prevention and rehabilitation measures
  • Convalescence
  • Financial support for medication
    If you have been prescribed medication and buy it from a pharmacy, you only pay one prescription fee per medication. This amounts to €7.55 per medication in 2026. If your income is particularly low, you can apply to be exempt from this fee. See the section on prescription fee exemption.
  • Sickness benefits for the employed and support benefits for the self-employed
    Under certain conditions, your social insurance will provide financial support if you are unable to work for a particularly long period due to illness.

The insurance benefits and the extent to which you can claim them depends on your social insurance; there may be slight differences in the details. Some insurance requires you to pay a percentage of the costs of each visit to the doctor yourself. With the Social Security Institution for the Self-employed (SVS) this equates to 20%, and with the Insurance Institution for Public-Service Employees, Railway and Mining Workers (BVAEB) 10%. In addition, not all doctors are licenced for all social security providers and the different insurance companies also offer fewer or greater benefits for dental prostheses.

Info: If you go to a doctor who does not have a contract with your health insurance provider, you must first pay for your visit yourself ("elective doctor"). You can submit this invoice to your insurance provider and get part of the costs reimbursed.

There are services that are not covered by regular insurance (e.g. cosmetic procedures). You have to pay for these yourself or take out private supplementary insurance.

Here is an overview of the groups of people who are covered by health insurance in Austria:

  • Employed people with an income above the marginal earnings threshold
  • Self-employed people with an income above the marginal earnings threshold
  • Recipients of unemployment benefits
  • Pension recipients
  • Co-insured dependants
  • People who earn below the marginal earnings threshold but have taken out voluntary self-insurance

Those who are insured are issued with a health insurance card (e-card). They must pay an annual contribution for this card. In 2026, this amounts to €25.

Attention: It is possible for anyone to voluntarily insure themselves and this is highly recommended for people in marginal employment!

Financial support for long-term incapacity to work

Depending on whether you are self-employed or employed, you will receive different types of financial support if you are unable to work due to illness: 

  • Self-employed individuals receive their salary from their employer for a certain period of time, even though they are unable to work due to illness (continued remuneration). If this entitlement has already been exhausted, they receive sick pay from their social security provider.
  • Self-employed individuals receive neither continued remuneration nor sickness benefits. You can apply for support benefits from the SVS.

In the following sections, you will find information on financial support for people who are unable to work. 

Financial support in the event of an industrial accident

If you have had an accident in the course of your work—self-employed or employed—or have developed an occupational illness due to the nature of your work, your accident insurance will cover the costs associated with the occupational illness/accident. 

This includes the costs of your immediate medical treatment and additional costs such as rehabilitation measures. The exact scope of benefits depends on your specific insurance. The following benefits are often included:

  • Patient transportation
  • Compensation for permanent physical impairment
  • Social assistance, such as transitional allowances in the initial phase after an accident
  • Payment of care needs if you are dependent on the care of other people
  • Retraining in the event of industry-related occupational disability
  • Disability pensions

Attention: In the case of leisure accidents, you only receive health insurance benefits. The benefits described above are covered by accident insurance, which only covers work-related accidents and occupational disability. It is therefore important to distinguish between occupational and leisure accidents. 

In the case of chronic complications resulting from an occupational illness, you are partially entitled to both accident and health insurance benefits.

Info: These explanations apply to statutory accident insurance. You can also take out private accident insurance.

The consequences of a self-inflicted accident are a separate issue. If it turns out that you caused your accident through gross negligence or even deliberately, the accident insurance provider could reclaim the payments made to you ("recourse"), depending on the circumstances and contractual conditions. 

Example: You work as a teacher in the workshop at the Academy of Fine Arts, where you work with dangerous materials and tools. Although you know the safety regulations, you ignore them when operating a saw and seriously injure yourself. Your accident insurance initially covers the costs of your medical treatment but could demand that you repay the compensation you have received because you were grossly negligent and caused your accident yourself. 

Artists and cultural workers are generally insured against accidents through the General Accident Insurance Institution (AUVA), Austria's largest insurance provider.