The prescription fee here in AUT is 5.15€ (6.70$)
I'm hardly sick, so I don't need it. Maybe 1 or 2 times a year when I have the flu.
Retirees are usually exempt from it as well.
Is there anyway to avoid government health insurance in Austria? In Germany, you're not part of it if you're employed making over a certain amount, you can get out if you're a student (especially attractive for under 25s), or if you're selbstständig.
In Austria there is no mandatory government health insurance, yet still 99.9% of the population is covered by the government health insurance. See here, on page 27 and onwards:
http://www.sozialversicherung.at/mediaDB/788530_Handbuch_der_oesterreichischen_Sozialversicherung.pdfThere are about 8.500 people out of who are not covered each year. Those people are often women who get divorced from their men and before they got divorced they were co-insured with their partner. After that they would have to file for Sozialhilfe (welfare money), but a lot of them do not because they are ashamed to apply for it, even though it would only involve a trip to the local labor market agency and a 5 minute application.
Other people include small numbers of students, homeless, and immigrants. Even though students and immigrants are usually also vastly covered with health care. If you are a student, you are covered by your parents insurance until you are 27. If you are not anymore, you can insure yourself for about 23€ per month.
