Several thousand people in Austria live without health insurance, despite the country’s broadly universal healthcare system. A study commissioned by the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) estimates that up to 0.6 percent of the population, about 57,000 people had no coverage at the end of 2024, reported by Die Presse.
“There is no question that the number is not zero,” said Martin Schenk, a social policy expert at Diakonie Austria and co-author of the study. “The clinics we surveyed alone treat several thousand patients.”
The research combined official data from Austria’s social insurance association and Statistics Austria with interviews at four clinics: AmberMed in Vienna, Marienambulanz in Graz, Virgilambulanz in Salzburg and Medcare in Innsbruck. In 2025, they cared for 2,697 uninsured people in Vienna, 2,221 in Graz and 96 in Salzburg.
Study author Michael Fuchs said the evidence points to “at least several thousand to tens of thousands” of uninsured people.
The study portrays a system that works for most Austrians but fails those living through instability. People can lose coverage after losing precarious jobs, during severe psychological crises, while unemployed without benefits, while studying, or after returning from abroad. Others do not claim social assistance, although it would also provide insurance.
“People in exceptional life situations and status transitions fall outside the protective scope of insurance at the edges of the system,” Fuchs said.
Many delay treatment because they fear bills they cannot pay or feel ashamed to seek help. In the survey sample, 28 percent waited at least three months after first symptoms; 19 percent waited at least a year.
Emergency clinics such as AmberMed, run by Diakonie and the Red Cross in Vienna, have become a lifeline. Doctors work without pay, while partner institutions provide laboratory tests and X-rays free of charge.
“It works only through voluntary work,” a clinic representative said.
The uninsured are disproportionately young, poor and socially isolated. The highest rates were among people aged 20 to 24, followed by those aged 25 to 29 and 30 to 34. Many have low incomes, limited education, unstable housing or no Austrian citizenship.
The authors urged simpler access to social assistance, automatic insurance for school-age children, secure funding for voluntary clinics and better services outside major cities.
