Fight for rehabilitation money

Too ill to work, too healthy for assistance

After a serious operation, Ms. H. doesn't know what to do next: she feels abandoned by the system. (Symbolic photo)(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com privat)

After undergoing serious spinal surgery with life-threatening complications, a woman from Burgenland has been fighting for rehabilitation funds for more than a year. She has appeared in court three times and has been rejected three times. However, the decision states that she is still able to perform "light duties such as porter work."

Ms. H. (name changed) is tired of fighting. The 53-year-old has been struggling for more than a year to receive rehabilitation benefits. She has appeared in court three times. Without success. Despite serious health problems, she remains without financial security.

It all began in May 2023. An operation on her lumbar spine was supposed to bring improvement. Instead, there were massive complications: during the procedure, her colon was injured. Ms. H. had to be flown by rescue helicopter to another hospital and undergo another operation.

Nothing is the same anymore
"I didn't know if I would survive," she recalls. On the day she was discharged from the hospital, the next blow of fate struck: her father passed away. She was unable to say goodbye. Since then, nothing has been the same. Rehabilitation was difficult, marked by severe pain and limited mobility.

After a serious operation, Ms. H. doesn't know what to do next: she feels abandoned by the system. (Symbolic photo)(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com privat)

It feels like I'm living in someone else's body.

Frau H.

Since the operation, she has also suffered from sleep disorders, severe nervousness, concentration problems, and cognitive deficits. She also continues to suffer physically: increased sweating is a major burden for her, possibly as a result of damage to the sympathetic nerve. She did not receive any compensation for the serious complications.

60 percent disability rating
Despite all these complaints, Ms. H. currently receives neither nursing care nor rehabilitation benefits. According to her own statements, she was awarded a 60 percent disability rating.

She received rehabilitation benefits for a total of 13 months, then came the decision: benefits canceled. The appeal was unsuccessful. "I don't understand this system," she says. "I felt paralyzed in court. I felt like no one was listening to me."

No one has ever treated me the way they did in court.

Frau H.

The treatment during the hearings was particularly stressful. "No one has ever treated me the way they spoke to me there."

Caught between the systems
The Burgenland Chamber of Labor is familiar with such cases. The law sets the bar for rehabilitation benefits extremely high. The decisive factor is not how a person is doing, but whether they are theoretically still capable of working in any capacity. Anyone who falls ill receives a maximum of one year of sick pay. After that, the ÖGK stops paying.

You then have to report to the AMS that you are healthy in order to receive any money at all. As a result, many people end up in a vacuum between the AMS, PVA, and ÖGK. That is exactly where Ms. H. finds herself today. "I am too sick to work," she says. "But apparently still too healthy to receive help."