Good intentions and the costs of inaction: Financial protection in Austria

TL;DR

Despite expanding health coverage in Austria, more households face high health costs, especially the poorest, due to issues in outpatient care and diagnostics.

Contribution

The study reveals that structural inaction in Austria's healthcare system undermines financial protection despite policy efforts.

Findings

Catastrophic health expenditure increased from 2.1% in 2004/05 to 3.6% in 2019/20.

Outpatient services and diagnostics are the main drivers of rising financial burden.

The poorest households account for at least 60% of those facing catastrophic health expenditure.

Abstract

•Austrian health policy has extended breadth and depth of coverage over decades.•Notwithstanding, the share of Austrian households facing catastrophic health expenditure has increased.•The main drivers of this unfavorable trend are outpatient services and diagnostics.•This may be owed to inaction to reform the system as a whole.

Austrian health policy has extended breadth and depth of coverage over decades.

Notwithstanding, the share of Austrian households facing catastrophic health expenditure has increased.

The main drivers of this unfavorable trend are outpatient services and diagnostics.

This may be owed to inaction to reform the system as a whole.

Understanding the financial strain of health care costs borne by households is crucial for assessing the equity and affordability of a health system. Building on an already generous system, Austrian health policy has strived over decades to include more and more people in its Social Health Insurance Schemes and to find ways to lower individual financial burden. Using data from the Austrian household budget survey for the years 2004/05, 2009/10, 2014/15 and 2019/20, this study investigates whether these efforts have been successful. Analyzing expenditures on various health care types, including medicines, medical products, outpatient care, dental care, diagnostic tests and inpatient care, our study aims to determine how the percentage of households experiencing catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) according to WHO definitions has changed over time. Logistic regression analyses were carried out to identify factors associated with CHE. The results reveal an increase in the prevalence of CHE from 2.1 % in 2004/05 to 3.6 % in 2019/20. Across all survey rounds, at least 60% of households experiencing CHE belonged to the poorest consumption quintile. Age, sex, educational attainment and employment status of the head of the household emerged as factors associated with CHE from the regression analysis. The observed rise in CHE is surprising given Austria’s generous health system and the introduction of policies during the study period aimed at expanding the breadth and depth of coverage. It serves as an example for other countries that failing to tackle underlying structural problems in the healthcare system may counteract financial protection policies.

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