Delayed payment

Waiting for rehab money drove woman into debt trap

Erika Homonnai had it in black and white that she was entitled to the money. But she only received it months later.(Bild: Reinhard Judt)

Despite a court order, the responsible authorities took months to pay out 11,500 euros to Erika Homonnai - instead they each blamed the other...

"I've worked for 30 years and despite a court decision, I've just been put off." Erika Homonnai (58) is stunned by the way the health insurance fund (ÖGK), the Public Employment Service Austria (AMS) and the Pension Insurance Institution (PVA) have treated her.

But first a look back: the 58-year-old from Zistersdorf in the district of Gänserndorf has had health problems for a long time, suffering from an autoimmune disease among other things. However, an application for disability pension was initially rejected.

I was entitled to the money, but the responsible authorities left my money in an account for months and didn't pay it out. And I received reminders during this time.

Erika Homonnai

Retroactively from February 2023
However, at the Korneuburg Regional Court at the end of June, an agreement was reached on a retroactive rehabilitation allowance from February 2023. This meant that the Hungarian-born woman, who has been an Austrian citizen since 1993, was entitled to €11,500. But despite countless calls to ÖGK, AMS and PVA, she had to wait almost three months before she received the urgently needed amount in her account. "I couldn't even pay the installments during this time and received reminders. I was entitled to the money," the Zistersdorf woman had to make do with emergency unemployment assistance.

Time sequence

ÖGK has summarized the chronological sequence from their point of view:

28.06.2024: PVA decision to retroactively award the rehabilitation allowance (from 01.02.2023) is issued
05.07.2024: Notification of decision arrives in the system
17.07.2024: Transmission of data via electronic data hub by PVA
19.07.2024: Actual processing of the case/calculation of the rehabilitation allowance is possible
05.08.2024: Calculation carried out
14.08.2024: First replacement claim was recorded by the AMS, but had to be canceled as the AMS benefit was extended up to and including 31.08.2024
28.08.2024: Submission of the new replacement claim to the AMS
02.09.2024: Transmission of the new replacement claim by the AMS
05.09.2024: Payment of the rehabilitation allowance

It was the other one
The culprit is quickly found by the offices concerned: the other person. The PVA emphasized that it had forwarded everything to the ÖGK. The latter in turn passed the ball on to the AMS because they had not received the necessary offsetting for an advance payment of unemployment assistance. And the AMS? It doesn't want to be able to do anything about it either: "The insurance data, which is imported by the PVA, was not yet available."

"It was always just back and forth. It's cheeky to treat people like that," says Homonnai, who went public to encourage other people: "You can't put up with everything!"