After spending time in Graz, Salzburg, and Vienna, our program’s time in Austria has officially come to an end. Learning the history of the Austrian nation, experiencing Austrian culture, and exploring different healthcare institutions all tied together to give me a holistic understanding of how Austria’s universal healthcare system functions.

In Austria, roughly 99% of people are covered by compulsory health insurance, which is a part of Austria’s social security institutes. This healthcare is funded by taxes paid by both employers and employees, and allows Austrians to obtain many common healthcare services and prescriptions either free of cost or at very low prices.

Visits to healthcare institutions throughout our time in Austria such as hospitals, free clinics, the Austrian Red Cross, disability resource centers, shelters, pharmacies, and more allowed me to see how this universal healthcare is put into practice and utilized by citizens. Additionally, it allowed me to more critically examine how and why the Austrian healthcare system differs from that of the US, where most citizens are covered by private health insurance.

While Austrian healthcare is made very accessible to its citizens, they face challenges with their healthcare system just as any other nation does. The aging population puts increased strain on healthcare infrastructure, and forces many families to face the difficult decision of if loved ones should age at home or in assisted living facilities. Additionally, fixed salaries for healthcare providers within the public system causes many doctors and other professionals to migrate out of Austria and seek work in other nations, further increasing the strain put on the healthcare system and contributing to provider burnout.

This experience has emphasized to me that there is no perfect healthcare system. While certain healthcare models may better suit certain cultures and populations, every system comes with both its strengths and its downfalls. Seeing the strengths of the Austrian healthcare system along with the challenges it faces, particularly in comparison to the United States, gave me deeper insight into how healthcare systems can be improved to address the needs of the citizens that it serves, and how I can one day operate effectively within a healthcare system while advocating for positive change.

For now, I say goodbye to Austria, and we are off to Slovenia!