Healthcare in Vienna

Healthcare in Vienna

Vienna’s doctors split into two camps and the split decides your bill. The contracted doctor costs you nothing; the private one with the polished English website hands back single-digit euros on a €100 invoice.

Healthcare in Vienna

Austrian healthcare is contract-based. A Kassenarzt has a contract with the public insurer, so you show your card and pay nothing. A Wahlarzt has none, sets their own fee and bills you upfront, while a Privatarzt carries no reimbursement at all.

Vienna renamed its municipal hospitals by district, so older guides send you to places that no longer exist under that name. The current names are Universitätsklinikum AKH Wien, Klinik Landstraße, Klinik Favoriten, Klinik Hietzing, Klinik Ottakring, Klinik Floridsdorf and Klinik Donaustadt. Private hospitals in the ninth and nineteenth districts run genuine international patient desks with interpreters.

Independent laboratories and imaging institutes hold contracts with the public insurer in their own right. With a referral from a contracted doctor, a blood panel or an MRI there is free. You never go near a hospital outpatient department.

Navigating care

Getting seen as a foreigner in Vienna

Ask one question before you book: do you have a public contract? Almost every Vienna doctor with a polished English website and online booking is a Wahlarzt. They market in English because they need to fill a private book, and the contracted doctors do not need to market at all.

The reimbursement is not 80 per cent of your bill. The insurer pays back 80 per cent of what it would have paid a contracted doctor, a far smaller number. In practice you get about €6 back on a €100 GP consultation, or 10 to 20 per cent of the invoice.

After 19:00, call 141 and a doctor comes to you. Vienna runs an after-hours GP service that makes home visits, overnight on weekdays and around the clock at weekends. Since May 2026 the call routes through the 1450 nurse line, which triages you; it does not treat babies under one year old.

Costs

What healthcare costs in Vienna

Austria has two tiers and almost nothing in between. At a contracted doctor, or with a European health card, most outpatient care costs nothing, and the emergency-department fee was abolished in 2003. Everything below is the private, self-pay tier.

GP consultation (private)$86–$162
Contracted doctor is free
Specialist consultation (private)$162–$335
First visit, varies by specialty
Emergency departmentFree with health card
No fee since 2003
Hospital stay (insured)$17 per day
Capped at 28 days yearly
Hospital stay (uninsured)$1,460–$2,690 per day
Higher rate for non-EU
Blood panel (independent lab)Free with referral
Contracted lab, not hospital
X-ray$76–$140
Free with a referral
MRI$313–$702
Free with referral, longer wait
Dental cleaning$108–$238
Never covered for adults
Dental crown$648–$1,620
Private, not covered
Prescription fee$8 per item
Flat rate, 2026

Contracted doctors and labs cost nothing with a health card. These are private-tier prices for everything else.

Pharmacies

Austria runs one of Europe’s most restrictive pharmacy markets. Every medicine, paracetamol and ibuprofen included, is pharmacy-only: no supermarkets, no drugstores, a rule the constitutional court upheld in 2021. Pharmacies close around 18:00 on weekdays and shut on Sundays, so buy your painkillers on arrival rather than at 23:00. Roughly 450 pharmacies rotate night and Sunday duty on an eleven-day cycle. You ring the bell and are served at the hatch, not inside. A night surcharge of €3.80 applies between 20:00 and 08:00, and €1.30 on Sundays and holidays, charged once per bill.

Health tips

Common visitor health risks in Vienna

Tick-borne encephalitis

Austria is endemic. Two doses, one to three months apart, so plan it rather than rush it.

Ragweed, not a cold

An August cold that will not shift is ragweed. The season runs into October.

Summer heat

The city runs 34 free staffed cool zones. You need not buy anything to sit in one.

Drink the tap water

It arrives by gravity from Alpine springs, and the city protects it in its constitution.

Emergency

Emergency number: 144

144 for an ambulance; 112 also works. 1450 is a free 24/7 nurse line, and 141 sends a doctor to you after hours.

English at the private clinics

Private hospitals run international patient desks with interpreters. Public clinics and the emergency phone lines operate mainly in German.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a Kassenarzt and a Wahlarzt in Vienna?

A Kassenarzt holds a contract with the public insurer, so you show your card and pay nothing. A Wahlarzt has no contract, sets their own fee and takes payment upfront. You can claim back 80 per cent of what the insurer would have paid a contracted doctor, not 80 per cent of your bill. In practice that means around €6 back on a €100 GP consultation.

Does the European Health Insurance Card work in Vienna?

Yes, at contracted doctors, dentists and hospitals, where you are treated on the same terms as an Austrian. It does not cover a Wahlarzt or a private hospital. Some cost-shares still apply: about €15.59 per day for the first 28 days as an inpatient, and €7.55 per prescription item.

Can I buy paracetamol in an Austrian supermarket?

No. Austria reserves all medicine sales to pharmacies, including basic painkillers like paracetamol and ibuprofen, and the constitutional court upheld that restriction in 2021. Pharmacies close around 18:00 on weekdays and shut on Sundays, with a rotating night-duty pharmacy serving you at the hatch for a €3.80 surcharge.

Sources

  1. [1] Stadt Wien — Rufnummern bei medizinischen Notfällen
  2. [2] Ärztekammer für Wien — Ärztefunkdienst 141
  3. [3] 1450 Wien — 1450 Wien und Ärztefunkdienst bündeln Kräfte
  4. [4] Wiener Gesundheitsverbund — Kliniken (current hospital names)
  5. [5] gesundheit.gv.at — Wahlarzt: Kosten und Rückerstattung
  6. [6] ÖGK — Wahlärztinnen und Wahlärzte
  7. [7] Ärztekammer für Wien — Wahlarztkostenrückersätze (reimbursement table)
  8. [8] Wahlarzt-Kosten-Report 2026 (private consultation fee survey)
  9. [9] ÖGK — Institute für MRT und CT (contracted imaging institutes)
  10. [10] ÖGK — Anlage D, Tarif für Vertragsfachärzte für Radiologie
  11. [11] ÖGK — Professionelle Zahnreinigung (not covered for adults)
  12. [12] ÖGK — Zahnersatz (fixed prosthetics are private)
  13. [13] AKH Wien — Gebühren und Tarife
  14. [14] Österreichische Apothekerkammer — VfGH-Entscheid zum Apothekenvorbehalt
  15. [15] European Commission — Austria European Health Insurance Card
  16. [16] Impfservice Wien — FSME (tick-borne encephalitis) vaccination
  17. [17] MedUni Wien — Weed pollen season (ragweed)
  18. [18] Stadt Wien — 34 Coole Zonen ab Juni
  19. [19] Stadt Wien — Hochquellenwasser Trinkwasserqualität

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