Health Insurance in Austria - having a baby
07 December 2011
My family and I have been in Austria since August and my wife is having a baby in about a month (beginning of Jan). We still haven't recieved our e card and we are being told we have to pay for the birth out of pocket. My employer says it's because we had to recieve our Visas first. The govt offices we have contacted said we DON'T need a Visa for an e card, just proof from our employer that I am working in Vienna. Please let me know what is the truth so we can be properly advised when dealing with the birth of our child. Thank you very much, Jon
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Stephanie's Website
Where are you from? If you're a citizen of an Economic European Area (EEA) member-state (or Switzerland) you can actually apply for an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) and take advantage of the same treatment in Austria available to residents. You don't need a visa for this. Though, the mere fact that you mentioned that you needed a visa to be in Austria, makes me think that you're not from an EEA nation.
Still, as soon as you start working in Austria, which I assume you've done if you've been there since August, your employer should have enrolled you in the district health insurance fund (Gebietskrankenkasse). I think the employer is legally required to do this within your first seven days of starting the job.
Have a look at this government web site under the "employees section" - Click the link - https://www.help.gv.at
Living in:
From:
Stephanie's Website
I live in Innsbruck and my husband is employed but I don't work. My husband was automatically enrolled in the health insurance program through his employer and he received his e-card two weeks after he began working. We visited the health insurance office to add me to the policy and all I had to do was fill out a form with personal information and then submit a copy of our marriage license. I received my ecard in the mail the next week. The health insurance company said they would have to communicate with my spouse's employer to confirm his employment before they could add me, so it seems that you should find out who is responsible for arranging your health insurance where you work and then ask them more questions if you haven't already done that. That being said, we've had our visas since we arrived in Austria so there may have been a requirement for that but I am unaware of it since we've always had our visas.
In the meantime, your wife should apply for the Mutter-Kind-Pass (Mother Child Pass). There are 2 good websites that provide information about this, and they say that all pregnant women living in Austria are eligible for the pass. It seems that all she needs to do is visit a doctor for the initial mother-child pass examination and then she will automatically get the pass. You can read more about it here:
https://www.help.gv.at/Portal.Node/hlpd/public/content/143/Seite.1430100.html
https://www.gesundheit.gv.at/Portal.Node/ghp/public/content/Mutter-Kind-Pass-Untersuchungen_Schwangerschaft_HK.html
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
dear Jon,
myself expat canadian, married, three kids in austria, stick wirth the information given by govt/health insurance people - any child born in austria is covered, your employer is obliged to have u insured et al. ask your enmployer for your health insurance data & pay a call - congratulations on the birth of your child, saw the posting date just now - should you have had any costs, get them refunded! greets. max.
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