Health Insurance

There are three public insurance institutions in Austria:

• ÖGKÖGK () covers salaried employees earning above the marginal earnings threshold, apprentices, pensioners and other groups of people.
• BVAEBBVAEB () is responsible for the public sector, railroads and mining.
• The SVSSVS () insures the self-employed and farmers.

The three institutions differ to some extent in the way they provide benefits and in the amount of contributions or co-payments to be made by the insured person. However, the principles are the same.

In Austria, every insured person, including co-insured family members, has an E-Card, a card with microchip that you must take with you to all doctor's appointments.

It serves as proof of your insurance status and gives doctors access to your electronic health records (ELGA). It is recommended that you always carry the e-card with you, as it gives you universal access to all public hospitals, doctors and treatment centres throughout the country.

With the e-card, doctors and pharmacists can see what medication you are taking, to avoid adverse effects from incompatible medications. It also allows your doctor to upload prescriptions electronically so that you can easily receive repeat prescriptions from your local pharmacy.

Although your data is protected, you can still opt out of the ELGA system. You can view your personal data at any time through the ELGA data portal. Another electronic ID card that is recommended for all Austrians is the ID Austria.

You can use it to easily log in to important online services, e.g. when filing your tax return with the tax office or when submitting invoices from private doctors and public insurance companies for partial reimbursement.

As a self-employed person, you are insured with the Social Insurance Institution for the Self-Employed (SVSSVS ()).

It is important to distinguish between entrepreneurs, business owners and freelancers. Self-employed persons are divided by law into businesses with a trade license and freelancers, whereby freelancers are independent employees.

Tradespeople require a trade license and pay corporate income tax, while freelancers are generally not subject to corporate income tax. Freelancers include professions such as doctors, architects, tax consultants and journalists. If you require an Austrian trade license or if you are a liable partner of an OG, KG or GmbH (various types of company in Austria), you are required to take out insurance. In principle, registering a business license automatically means that you are required to take out mandatory insurance. Under certain conditions, however, you can be (partially) exempted from compulsory insurance.

"New self-employed persons" (Neue Selbständige) who do not work with a trade license must register as soon as their gross annual income exceeds € 6,613.20 (2025). If their earnings are below the defined earnings threshold, they are subject to the same self-insurance rates as all partially employed workers. If you are both employed and self-employed, the income from all your economic activities is added together, to calculate the basis for your contributions. Your insurance depends on your highest source of income; if your salary is higher than what you earn as a self-employed person, you are insured with the ÖGK - and vice versa. If you are self-employed and are unable to work for a period of time (e.g. due to an accident) but have someone who is able to do so, you can apply for company assistance (support during the period of incapacity for work). The amount of social insurance contributions, the so-called contribution rates, varies depending on whether you are employed, an apprentice or a partially employed person.

Regardless of whether you are insured through ÖGK, BVAEB, SVS or have voluntary insurance, you can co-insure your family members so that they receive the same benefits as you, provided they are also ordinarily residents in Austria.

Dependents include spouses and registered partners, children (legitimate or illegitimate, adopted or raised by single parents) as well as stepchildren and grandchildren who live permanently with the insured person in the same household.

You must pay an additional contribution to ÖGK for certain co-insured persons. This is 3.4% of the calculation basis (gross income) of the insured person.

ÖGK will check whether contributions are due in your case and will send you a questionnaire for this purpose. Contributions do not have to be paid in the following cases:

• The co-insured person is currently raising one or more children in the same household.
• The co-insured person has raised one or more children in the joint household for at least four years in the past.
• The co-insured relative receives a grade 3 care allowance, or higher.
• The co-insured relative cares for the insured person who receives a grade 3 care allowance, or higher.
• There is a need for social protection according to the guidelines of the Main Association. This is particularly the case if the insured person's monthly net income does not exceed the specified married couples' allowance of € 2,009.85 (2025).
• While receiving sick pay, maternity pay, childcare allowance or parental leave allowance, unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance or minimum income benefits.