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Starting November 15, the service fee for the e-card will be collected. This fee is increasing significantly this year. Instead of €13.80, €25 will be charged for the first time. The adjustment is part of the austerity measures at the Ministry of Health, which must make significant savings by 2026. Cuts will be made in administration, subsidies, and communication measures, among other areas.The service fee is due in mid-November each year for the following year.
The fee is collected by employers or by the agencies that pay unemployment benefits or emergency assistance. The fee appears as a separate item on the pay slip. The transfer to the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) must be made by December 15.
Because the fee is adjusted annually with the so-called revaluation figure, a further increase in the coming years is likely.
Who is exempt?
However, not all insured persons have to pay the fee. Groups that are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion are exempt. These include co-insured children, spouses and partners, people on parental leave and minor employees. Conscripts and those performing community service as well as asylum seekers receiving basic benefits also do not pay the service fee.O
ne key principle remains: Anyone who is exempt from prescription fees is automatically exempt from the e-card fee.Until now, pensioners have also been exempt. However, this is changing: From 2027, they will also have to pay, with one exception: minimum pensioners will remain permanently exempt.
Refund in case of double collection
Employees with multiple employment relationships may inadvertently be charged twice. In such cases, the ÖGK will refund any excess amounts collected. All you need to do is submit a short application, accompanied by copies of your pay slips showing the deductions. The Chamber of Labor therefore advises you to keep your November pay slips in a safe place.
Benefits at home and abroad
The e-card gives insured persons access to contracted doctors and hospitals throughout Austria. On the back is the European Health Insurance Card, which allows treatment in all EU countries as well as in Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Great Britain, North Macedonia, and Switzerland.
A special rule applies to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro: Before receiving treatment, you must obtain a certificate of entitlement from the local social security institution responsible. For trips to Turkey, the bilateral foreign care certificate is still required, which must be converted into a local treatment certificate.
Further fee adjustments in the healthcare sector
In addition to the e-card, other services have also become more expensive this year. Since July, deductibles for patient transport have been reintroduced: trips without paramedics now cost €7.55, trips with paramedics €15.10. The deductible does not apply only in cases of medical necessity, such as chemotherapy.Government documents, including passports, identity cards, driver’s licenses, and name changes, have also become more expensive.
- source: heute.at/picture: canva.com
