Accordingly, the “patient billion” propagated by the government at the time, which should have benefited the insured directly, does not exist. Instead of this saving, there was an additional expense of 214.95 million euros.
The auditors compared the actual administrative costs and the projections for 2023, which are from February 2022, with the government’s savings targets from 2018. The target was exceeded by 1.21 billion. From the point of view of the Court of Auditors, the goal of the ÖVP and FPÖ from 2018 was unrealistic anyway: the government at the time expected merger costs, but did not quantify them, reports standard-online.
More employees instead of fewer
According to the Court of Auditors, one of the reasons for the increase in costs is the number of staff in the merged health insurance companies, which, contrary to the announcement by the turquoise-blue government, has increased slightly. After all, there was a slight slimming down in the executives of some institutions. In its recommendations, the Court considers a redefinition of realistic goals to be necessary.
The opposition also tore up the former turquoise-blue measure on Saturday. For SPÖ health spokesman Philip Kucher, the billion patients promised at the time are now finally a “disgrace”. “The government has to put an end to insulting the insured,” said NEOS social spokesman Gerald Loacker.
The medical association also saw its initial criticism as confirmed. “Either the government lied to us or the management failed. In any case, the mess that was caused must be cleaned up as quickly as possible,” demanded its President Johannes Steinhart.
Source: Nachrichten
