Lower Austria calls for new contracts

Good chances for health insurance MRI in Mistelbach and Horn

Lower Austria is putting pressure on new health insurance fund posts for magnetic resonance examinations.

(Bild: CHRISTOF BIRBAUMER)

There is a sigh of relief above all in the Weinviertel region - especially in peripheral regions: In extreme cases, it currently takes up to two hours to travel to and from the nearest MRI center with a health insurance contract. And that's only after weeks of waiting: on Friday, the (MRI) cards will be reshuffled.

"Even Vorarlberg, with only 2601 square kilometers, has four magnetic resonance institutes with a health insurance contract," Alfred Weidlich renews the demand for the award of a health insurance contract for the private MR center in Mistelbach. "Many of our patients have to travel across the Weinviertel region, which is almost twice the size, to Stockerau or Gänserndorf."

As this results in extreme waiting times, the only option is often private payment. Or the even longer journey to a Viennese center.

Vienna, with 1.9 million inhabitants, has 45 MRT stations, while Lower Austria has only 27 for 1.7 million people. The Weinviertel brings up the rear, and we have been calling for another contract for 7 years!

Alfred Weidlich, Alt-Bürgermeister von Mistelbach

Bild: zVg

Decisive meeting next Friday
FPÖ provincial councillor Christoph Luisser is responsible. And he now sees hope for an improvement in the near future, as the so-called Federal Target Control Commission, which decides on the distribution of health insurance places, is meeting on Friday.

"And we will include Horn and Mistelbach in the distribution plan there," says Luisser's office. They are confident, as "there are already institutes in the cities. If they are approved, things can move very quickly." Looking at the district statistics in relation to population and area, Waldviertel and especially Weinviertel are the next candidates for further health insurance contracts.

Lower Austria is united: demand for two more MRI places
The exact chances of success are open - the crux of the matter: in addition to the federal and state governments (where a unanimous resolution was passed in May 2023), the health insurance fund also has the right to vote. And as the latter has to bear the main financial burden, it is not certain whether the Weinviertel will not be left out of the decision ...