Relatives desperate

Minimum pensioner (84) has to pay prescription fee

An elderly Styrian woman loses her prescription fee exemption after moving into a care home and no one can help.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christof Birbaumer, Claus Kastner, Helmut Fahringer)

She lives in a care home with Parkinson's disease and has 57 euros a month to live on. But instead of support, 84-year-old Irene L. from Trofaiach in Styria only experiences the opposite: because she lost her minimum pension after moving into the home, she lost her exemption from the prescription fee - a legal loophole that leaves even the authorities baffled.

She counts out the same 18 tablets every morning - for Parkinson's, high blood pressure, pain. What is essential for the 84-year-old's survival is becoming increasingly unaffordable for her: she has recently had to pay prescription charges for every medication - even though she only has 57 euros of "pocket money" left over from her pension each month.

Until recently, the retired housewife, who raised three children, lived in "assisted living" in her home town of Trofaiach. As a recipient of the minimum income benefit, she had health insurance at the time and was automatically exempt from prescription charges. After suffering several strokes and being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, her condition deteriorated and in 2024 she finally had to move into a care home - the local SeneCura social center.

What would happen if she didn't have a family to pay for the medication she needed to survive?

Schwiegersohn Claus Kastner

Bild: Heinz Weeber

"She is well looked after there," emphasizes her son-in-law Claus Kastner, "but the move means she is no longer covered by her previous compulsory insurance." This is because anyone who moves into a care home automatically loses their entitlement to minimum benefits - and therefore also their health insurance.

BH covers insurance costs
In order to maintain medical care, the family had to apply for self-insurance. Although the Leoben district authority covers the costs, the law states that someone who is "voluntarily insured" can no longer be exempt from prescription charges.

The consequences are dramatic: all medications - from Parkinson's therapy to painkillers - are subject to a fee. She was also charged a deductible of 700 euros for a stay in rehab because she was no longer exempt. The medication costs add up to an average of around 100 euros per month - money that the family has to pay privately.

The situation is really unbearable, but unfortunately I don't have a solution. Only a change in the law could help.

Sepp Harb, ÖGK

Bild: Jauschowetz Christian

"How is an old woman with 57 euros pocket money supposed to pay for her medication?" asks Kastner, stunned. He contacted all the authorities - the Austrian Health Insurance Fund, the district administration, the province of Styria and finally even the Ombudsman Board. "Everyone tried, but nobody could help," he says.

When asked by the Krone, the ÖGK said: "The situation is really intolerable, but unfortunately I don't have a solution ready," says Sepp Harb from the Styrian branch. Only a change in the law could remedy the situation. The basis for the current practice is an amendment from the previous year and §12 of Directive AVSV 2008/0005 - which states that voluntarily insured social welfare recipients may not be exempt from prescription charges.

This has fatal consequences for Irene L. and many other people in need of care in Austria. "It's not just about my mother-in-law," says Kastner. "She's not an isolated case, there are three people affected in her home alone - and nobody feels responsible." Postscript: "And what if she had no family to pay for the medication she needs to survive?"