Health Insurance for Pensioners in Austria (2026)

How Much Do Austrian Pensioners Pay for Health Insurance?

Austrian pensioners remain insured with the ÖGK and pay 6% of their pension for it. Under § 73 ASVG the pension insurer withholds the amount from every pension payment and special payment, so the 13th and 14th pension are charged too. The rate applies from 1 June 2025 and replaced 5.1% (Pensionistenverband, 2025). There is no bill and nothing to file.

The increase costs €226.80 a year on a €1,800 pension and €441 on €3,500, as the table shows. The Ausgleichszulage, the top-up for low pensions, counts as pension for this purpose, so it is charged as well. Cover is identical to an employee's: Kassenarzt visits, hospital, medicines and co-insured family members.

One new cost arrives in 2027. Pensioners pay the yearly e-card service fee for the first time: €26.85 for 2027, due on 15 November 2026. The responsible pension insurer collects it, not an employer (ÖGK, 2026). Anyone exempt from the prescription fee, such as Ausgleichszulage recipients, stays exempt from the e-card fee too.

How Much Do Pensioners Pay for Prescriptions?

Each prescribed item costs €7.55 in 2026, the same as in 2025 (AK Wien). The Arzneimittelkostenobergrenze stops the fees once you have paid 2% of your annual net income, without an application. Since 1 January 2026, prescribed medicines cheaper than the fee count towards that cap as well. The percentage is set to fall each year to 1.5% by 2030.

Our worked example: a pensioner with €1,500 net a month receives €21,000 over 14 payments. Two percent is €420, so the fees stop during the 56th prescription of the year. At the 2030 rate of 1.5%, the cap would be €315, reached during the 42nd. Confirm with the ÖGK how it counts your income, because the special payments decide the result.

Below the income limits in the table you can apply for a full exemption. Pensioners with above-average illness-related costs get the higher limit, and other household members' income counts at 12.5%. An exemption also removes the e-card fee. AK Wien reports one case where the ÖGK applied the standard limit when the higher one was due, so check which limit your decision used.

Which Country Covers You With a Foreign Pension?

A pension from another EU or EEA state carries its health cover with it. Your pension insurer issues an S1 form, you register it with the ÖGK, and you get Austrian benefits as though insured here (Regulation 883/2004, Article 24). The cost stays with the pension country, which may deduct its own health contribution from your pension (Article 30). The ÖGK charges you nothing.

An Austrian pension changes that. If one of your pensions comes from Austria, the ÖGK becomes your insurer (Article 23). Under § 73a ASVG you then pay the 6% contribution on the foreign pension too. The pension insurer withholds it from your Austrian pension; without one, the ÖGK bills you directly.

Swiss pensions follow their own option. People drawing an AHV, IV or occupational pension who live in Austria can ask to leave Swiss KVG insurance and insure in Austria (Gemeinsame Einrichtung KVG). The request must be filed within three months of moving, and the exemption usually covers family members living with you.

What Health Insurance Do Non-EU Pensioners Need for a Residence Permit?

Pensioners from outside the EU usually move on a Niederlassungsbewilligung ausgenommen Erwerbstätigkeit. § 44 NAG requires a quota place and a fixed monthly income of at least twice the Richtsatz. Every permit also needs health insurance that covers all risks and pays out in Austria (§ 11 Abs. 2 Z 3 NAG). Travel insurance with caps and exclusions does not meet that test.

Once you live here, the ÖGK is open to you through self-insurance under § 16 ASVG, which requires residence in Austria. It costs up to €565.25 a month in 2026, reducible on application. Without prior cover a waiting period of up to six months applies, so keep the private policy until ÖGK benefits start. Our health insurance guide covers the reduction request.

The order matters more than the price. The permit authority checks cover before it grants the permit, and the ÖGK only accepts you after you have a residence. A pensioner therefore pays for private all-risks cover first, then for self-insurance, and drops the private policy once the waiting period has passed. Our expat health insurance guide lists policies the authorities accept.

Can Retired Cross-Border Workers Keep Treatment in Their Former Work Country?

Yes, in two ways. Every retired frontier worker may continue a treatment that began in the country of their last job (Regulation 883/2004, Article 28(1)). With at least two years of frontier work in the five years before the pension, full access continues where both countries opted in under Annex V. Austria and Germany are both on that list.

If you commuted into Austria and now draw a foreign pension, apply with the ÖGK form ÖGK-LEI/0004-01. It asks for the date the foreign pension started, your foreign health insurer, and proof of frontier work in the five years before. For a continued treatment, attach the medical records. Family members of a former frontier worker can qualify on the same basis.

For the working years before retirement, our cross-border health insurance guide covers the Swiss option and the S1 for commuters to Germany and Liechtenstein.

What Happens to Your ÖGK Cover if You Retire Abroad?

If you move to another EU state with only an Austrian pension, the ÖGK stays your insurer. It issues an S1 that you register in your new country, where you are treated as though insured there. Because Austria carries the cost, it keeps deducting the 6% contribution from your pension (Article 30). The e-card fee and the Austrian prescription fee no longer apply to treatment abroad; the new country's co-payments do.

Visits home stay covered in full. Austria is listed in Annex IV of the regulation, which gives pensioners insured by an Austrian institution full access to treatment when they stay in Austria (Article 27(2)). Germany is on the same list, so the same applies to German pensioners living in Austria who visit Germany.

Is Private Top-Up Insurance Worth It After 60?

It depends on when you bought it. An individual supplementary policy is a lifetime contract: under § 178i VersVG the insurer cannot cancel it because you claim. Austria has no ageing reserve, so premiums follow your age band and rise over time. A policy bought at 40 keeps you covered for your conditions; a new one at 65 means a fresh health check.

Check what kind of contract you hold before you retire. § 178i allows the insurer to cancel group contracts and sickness-benefit contracts, which is the usual form of employer Sonderklasse cover. If your private ward cover runs through your employer, ask whether it continues as an individual policy, and at what premium, before your last working day.

Cheap entry routes close early. Wiener Städtische lets option-tariff holders move up to full Sonderklasse without a new health check only until age 45. We could not find a published maximum entry age for new Sonderklasse policies at UNIQA, Merkur or Wiener Städtische, so ask for the tariff conditions in writing. Our private health insurance guide compares the current tariffs.

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