Challenges Faced by an Ageing Society: Focus on Reforms Needed in the Austrian Health Care System

Spending on health care already makes up 10 percent of the national economic output or almost one fifth of state expenditure. Fuelled by an ageing society and the appearance of new technologies, cost pressure on care and old-age pensions will continue to rise unless the individual health status improves with every extra year of the human lifespan and older people can work longer, in parallel to the rise in life expectancy. The Austrian health care system is among the most expensive ones in Europe, due to inefficiencies in its planning, financing and organisation, wrong or lacking incentives (e.g., frequent admissions to hospitals, low equipment utilisation rates, double examinations) and because the system is based on repair rather than prevention and improving health behaviour. The primary goal of any systemic health policy is to achieve in individuals many years without any health problems. A secondary although still important task is to alleviate or eliminate problems.