By Rudolf Adlmanninger, insurance broker (Versicherungsmakler) · Last updated 12 September 2026
In short: Health insurance is not optional paperwork for a study stay in Austria, but the route into it is friendlier than most forum threads suggest. Students from the EU, the EEA and Switzerland must have comprehensive cover in Austria; an EHIC can still be part of the answer if you remain entitled at home and do not work here. UK students should apply for a Student GHIC. Students from third countries need cover that provides benefits in Austria and covers all risks — and here is the detail that matters: for the Residence Permit – Student you may state in the application that you will take out the ÖGK student self-insurance after you arrive, at €78.84 a month (2026), and hand in the confirmation when you collect the permit. You still need cover for the journey and the weeks before enrolment. Private cover such as Care Austria Education, from €51.00 a month according to Care Concept, can be applied for and concluded before you leave home — but the cover itself only starts when you cross the Austrian border, so the journey to Austria needs its own policy. We advise on insurance, not on immigration law.
Fast track: Care Austria Education
- Why it makes sense: you are insured before you land — you apply from home, cover starts on the day you enter Austria, and the insurer’s declaration for the authority comes with the policy. That is the route while the ÖGK student rate is not yet possible or does not fit your case.
- Who it is for: people aged 12 to 35 coming to Austria for education — students, language-school and pre-study students, doctoral students, visiting academics and au pairs — who are not Austrian citizens and lived abroad before the journey.
- Price: from €51 a month (2026 rates).
- Cover: applied for before you travel, the general 31-day waiting period does not apply (eight months for childbirth and dentures). Care Concept settles directly with doctors and hospitals that accept it; otherwise you pay and send the invoice in for reimbursement.
- How fast: Care Concept confirms the documents normally arrive by email within two hours of the application; where underwriting or a query is needed, two to three working days.
Apply for Care Austria Education online Book a 15-minute call
You conclude the policy through us and get our advice on top — the ÖGK student rate (€78.84) is explained below.
Rudolf Adlmanningeradvises online, in English★ 5.0 stars on Google · 26 reviews · read them allIn the insurance business since 1994GISA 16750586Broker information
Which health insurance do you need as a student? The essentials at a glance
- Students from the EU, the EEA and Switzerland: you need comprehensive cover in Austria — an EHIC (UK: Student GHIC) can be part of the answer if you remain entitled at home and do not work here.
- Students from third countries: the Residence Permit – Student needs proof of all-risk cover; you may declare the ÖGK student self-insurance at €78.84 a month (2026) in the application and take it out after you arrive.
- The gap before enrolment: the first weeks in Austria need cover of their own — Care Austria Education from €51 a month according to Care Concept can be taken out before you leave home, but it starts only once you enter Austria, so the journey itself needs a travel policy.
- Working alongside your studies: a marginal job brings statutory accident insurance, but no health or pension insurance of its own; a job above €551.10 a month (2026) brings full compulsory cover, from the first working day.
- Honestly: we advise on insurance, not on immigration law — and if the student rate covers everything you need, we say so.
Two routes side by side: the ÖGK student rate at €78.84 and Care Austria Education from €51 — and the same private cover bridges the weeks before the student rate can start.
Free and direct: your enquiry reaches Rudolf Adlmanninger — we do not pass it to other advisers. A 15-minute call by phone or a 30-minute video consultation on a shared screen — you choose.
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Prefer to call? +43 676 322 48 30 (also on WhatsApp – call or message)
How does POINTNER finanz help — in English, before you arrive?
- A 15-minute callTell us your nationality, your university, your arrival date and whether you will work. We tell you which route applies — student rate, EHIC or private cover — and what your permit file needs.
- We sort out your caseWe check eligibility for the ÖGK student rate, the timing of the gap before enrolment and what a private policy does once statutory cover begins. On request we go through it on a shared screen.
- Quote and applicationYou receive a written quote; Care Austria Education you can price and take out yourself online through our partner link before you travel.
We are based in Austria and use Central European Time, switching to summer time in summer — roughly one hour ahead of the UK, six ahead of New York and three and a half to four and a half hours behind Delhi, depending on the season. Early-morning and evening slots exist for exactly that reason; please check the time zone shown when booking.
What does Austria actually require, and when?
Three different moments ask you for insurance, and mixing them up is the commonest mistake we see.
At the application, if you need a residence permit: “already at the time of application, you have to furnish proof of health insurance coverage that provides benefits in Austria and covers all risks.” For the journey and the first weeks, the OeAD — Austria’s agency for education and internationalisation — says “in principle a travel health insurance must be taken out to enter Austria”, with “insurance cover well over EUR 30,000 including guarantee to cover possible recovery”. During your studies, you choose between the ÖGK student self-insurance, cover as a dependant of an insured parent, a private policy, or compulsory insurance through an employer.
Almost none of this needs you to be in Austria: we advise by video call, and the private policies below can be applied for before you have a flight booked.
Sources: migration.gv.at: Frequently asked questions and OeAD: Residence Permit – Student (accessed September 2026)
I am from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland — is my EHIC enough?
Sometimes, for longer than you might think — but never automatically.
The European Commission’s Your Europe portal gives the rule in one line: “If you go to another EU country for your studies, research work, a work placement or vocational training, you must have comprehensive health insurance in your host country.” It then adds the part most pages leave out: “If you are not employed, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) could be an option, if you are eligible.” The length of your degree is not what decides the question; your continuing entitlement at home is.
Three things end that entitlement in practice: employment here, because “if you are employed in your host country, you will need to subscribe to a local health insurance scheme”; your home fund’s own time limits, “often the case for mature students (older than 28 or 30)”; and a genuine move of your habitual residence. Ask your home fund in writing whether your entitlement lasts the whole study period. And note what an EHIC never does: it covers state-provided care only, not private or planned treatment, and it will not pay for mountain rescue or repatriation.
You need no residence permit as an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, but for a stay over three months you apply for a registration certificate (Anmeldebescheinigung) — and the deadline runs the other way round from what people assume: “The stay must be registered with the competent settlement authority within four months of arrival in Austria.” Comprehensive health insurance is one of the conditions, and in our experience, and according to Care Concept, a Care Austria policy is also used by EU citizens as that proof — though the authority decides each case. If you are unsure whether your entitlement at home lasts the whole degree, send us the details and we look at that with you.
Sources: Your Europe: Your health insurance cover when living abroad, Your Europe: Unplanned healthcare during a temporary stay and oesterreich.gv.at: Registration certificate (accessed September 2026)
I am from the UK — what changed after Brexit?
Less than most people fear, and there is a card made for your situation — for eligible UK residents, that is; a British passport on its own does not entitle you to it. UK government guidance says: “You should apply for a Student GHIC to get medically necessary, state-provided healthcare for the duration of your study period in Austria, whether this is for part or all of your course.” A valid Student EHIC can be used until it expires.
Two limits. The Student GHIC covers state-provided care, so private treatment and repatriation are still on you. And UK nationals “must show proof of healthcare cover” both before registering as a resident and when applying for a visa. The card solves the medical question, not automatically the paperwork question.
Source: GOV.UK: Healthcare for UK nationals living in Austria (guidance last updated 19 January 2024, accessed September 2026)
I am from India, Pakistan, the US or another third country — what goes in my application?
For a study stay of more than six months you need a Residence Permit – Student, and insurance is one of its conditions. Shorter stays run on a visa C or a visa D instead, with insurance requirements of their own, so check which route applies to you before you buy anything. We advise on insurance, not on immigration law — the residence authority decides your file.
Where and when you apply. In most cases you apply at the Austrian embassy or consulate in your country of residence and wait for the decision there, then apply for a visa D to travel and collect the permit. A first application can in some situations be made in Austria after lawful entry — but it does not extend the stay your visa allows. University admission deadlines are a separate clock from the permit. migration.gv.at names 5 September and 5 February as the general dates by which foreign applicants apply for admission for the following semester, but they are not a reliable rule for every institution: the University of Vienna, for instance, sets 22 June to 3 August 2026 for third-country applicants for the 2026/27 winter semester, and programmes with entrance examinations have dates of their own. Check the deadlines your university or university of applied sciences publishes. The OeAD, for its part, advises filing the permit application “at least three months before the planned entry”, and six months ahead if possible, because the decision period alone is 90 days and can be extended by another 90.
The insurance. For the journey and the interim period the authorities accept travel health insurance “provided it covers costs well above €30,000 and includes a guarantee covering potential rescue and return costs”. Treat €30,000 as a floor, not a target: it is the minimum cover Article 15 of the EU Visa Code sets for a Schengen visa, and the OeAD asks for costs well above it plus the rescue-and-return guarantee. A policy capped at exactly €30,000 and silent on rescue and return is the one most likely to come back with questions — though the sum alone does not decide the file.
Work. An employment permit (Beschäftigungsbewilligung) is required, applied for by the employer at the AMS before you start — including for a marginal job. Up to 20 hours a week can be authorised “without a labour market test”; above that the AMS carries out one, and the work must still fit the purpose of a student permit. Twenty hours is therefore the threshold for the simple procedure rather than an absolute legal ceiling — and either way, the permit comes before the first day of work.
Sources: migration.gv.at: Study in Austria, migration.gv.at: Frequently asked questions and OeAD: Residence Permit – Student (accessed September 2026)
Can I apply for the permit before I have Austrian health insurance?
Yes, and this is the single most useful paragraph on this page.
For degree-programme students at universities and universities of applied sciences — and for non-degree students at university preparation programmes — the OeAD confirms that the requirement of a “health insurance covering all risks” is met by taking out the ÖGK student self-insurance after entering Austria and enrolling: “A written statement that the student insurance will be taken out with the Österreichische Gesundheitskasse after entry to Austria can be attached to the application form or stated in the application form under the point ‘health insurance’.”
And to settle the question we are asked most often: statutory health insurance is accepted proof. § 11(2)(3) of the Settlement and Residence Act (NAG) asks for cover that covers all risks and under which the insurer is “liable to pay benefits in Austria” — which is exactly what the ÖGK student self-insurance is. It pays the full package of ÖGK benefits in kind from the day cover starts, with no waiting period at the subsidised student rate (§ 19 no. 1 of the ÖGK statutes), and the ÖGK’s own English leaflet says so in one line: “You are entitled to all ÖGK benefits in kind from the start of self-insurance.” Vienna’s MA 35 accordingly lists ÖGK self-insurance without a waiting period among the cases in which no private policy is needed at all. So you hand in the ÖGK confirmation, and that is the document the authority wants.
You then have to collect, not just declare: to pick up the permit you show your residence registration (Meldezettel) and your final admission, and “the confirmation of insurance must also be collected from Österreichische Gesundheitskasse and subsequently presented to the residence authority.”
So the sequence is: declare the ÖGK route, insure the journey and the interim period, arrive, register, enrol, apply to the ÖGK, hand in the confirmation. The alternative is a private policy covering all risks for the whole permit period, with no waiting periods, no cost caps and no excluded risks and with an explicit written statement from the insurer. That statement is why some products are accepted and near-identical ones are not — with Care Austria it comes with the policy documents automatically, so it is there when the authority asks for it. A third route exists if you hold national health insurance in a country with an Austrian social insurance agreement — Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia or Turkey: bring the A4 form and exchange it at the ÖGK. If you want that sequence checked against your own dates, we go through it with you in a 15-minute call.
Source: OeAD: Residence Permit – Student, health insurance for entry and residence (accessed September 2026)
What money does the authority want to see?
The rates in force since 1 January 2026 are €722.58 a month if you are under 24 and €1,308.39 a month from your 24th birthday; the Interior Ministry’s brochure on calculating means under the Settlement and Residence Act sets them out, and the OeAD publishes the same figures. You prove them for twelve months in advance, in an account in your own name that is accessible from Austria. Insurance costs come on top, and although the student permit needs no legally enforceable title to a home, the checklist does ask for accommodation in Austria for at least three months — your means are calculated from the accommodation costs you present.
| Proof of means for the Residence Permit – Student (2026) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Students under 24 | €722.58 a month |
| Students aged 24 and over | €1,308.39 a month |
| Couples | €2,064.12 a month for both |
| Each child, additionally | €201.88 a month |
| Accommodation costs above this figure must be proved on top | €386.43 a month |
| Application fee, for applications from 1 January 2026 | €218 |
Sources: Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI): Informationsbroschüre über die Unterhaltsberechnung im NAG, as at 1 January 2026 (German, PDF) — the 2026 rates were promulgated in BGBl. II No. 263/2025 — and OeAD: Residence Permit – Student, checklist and costs (accessed September 2026)
What does the ÖGK student rate cost, and who gets it?
This is the subsidised route into the Austrian statutory system: €78.84 a month in 2026 for voluntary statutory health insurance with the ÖGK (Selbstversicherung), against €565.25 for the standard voluntary health insurance with the ÖGK — a contribution that can be reduced on application if your means are limited. It is not the only price on this page — free co-insurance with a parent costs nothing, and Care Austria Education starts at €51 a month according to Care Concept. What the ÖGK rate buys is the statutory package: the same e-card and the same doctors contracted to the ÖGK as everyone else.
According to the ÖGK you qualify if you study at a state-recognised university or university of applied sciences in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland — the ÖGK follows the Student Support Act and also lists Austrian university colleges of teacher education and further institutions — or attend a pre-study programme or the university entrance qualification examination, and if you are not covered by compulsory insurance and your habitual residence is in Austria.
Two limits decide most cases. Duration: the period of study defined by the Student Support Act plus four semesters, and at most two changes of degree course, each at the latest after the second semester. The ÖGK adds a tolerance semester, and exceeding the period counts against you only “without important reasons (e.g. military service, civilian service, birth of a child)”; a master’s following a bachelor’s in the same field is not a change of course. Earlier degrees and earlier periods of study count as well, so a second degree, a doctorate or a late change of course is worth checking individually rather than against a rule of thumb. Earnings: the ÖGK publishes no euro figure but states that the limit “is regulated in the Student Support Act and is adjusted annually for inflation”. The Studienbeihilfenbehörde, which administers that Act, puts it at €17,677 for the 2026 calendar year, up from €17,212 for 2025. That is income as the Student Support Act defines it — annual income including special payments, less the deductions the Act allows, social insurance contributions in particular — so it is neither your net pay nor your gross salary times twelve, and it answers a different question from the monthly marginal earnings threshold further down. You will also find an older €15,000 on the federal information portal, which has not been updated — use the current figure.
You hand in the signed form, photo ID, your registration confirmation (Meldezettel), a current record of studies and confirmation of continuation or admission. You get benefits in kind — preventive care, treatment, hospital stays, medicines — but no cash benefits such as sick pay; a spouse, registered partner or children can be co-insured.
Two timing details cost people money. Cover normally starts the day after you apply, unless you apply within six weeks of a previous insurance ending, in which case it connects directly. And it must generally run for at least six months before you can end it, unless compulsory insurance begins or you move abroad. That six-month minimum term is not a waiting period for benefits: under § 19 no. 1 of the ÖGK statutes (official notice 68/2025), the six-month benefit waiting period that applies to general self-insurance does not apply to the subsidised student rate — which is why the authorities accept it as cover “without a waiting period”. Whether the student rate or a private policy fits your case, we compare the two with you — book a 15-minute call.
Sources: ÖGK: My self-insurance for students — details (English, PDF, edition 04/2026), ÖGK: Selbstversicherung für Studierende (German), oesterreich.gv.at: Studentische Selbstversicherung (German) and Studienbeihilfenbehörde: FAQ, Zuverdienstgrenze (German) (accessed September 2026)
The three routes side by side
| ÖGK student self-insurance | Co-insurance with a parent | Care Austria Education (private) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per month (2026) | €78.84 | free of charge | from €51.00 (term up to 364 days) / €56.00 (open-ended), according to Care Concept |
| Who it is for | students at a recognised university or university of applied sciences in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, habitually resident in Austria | children in education up to the 27th birthday, where the parent holds Austrian statutory cover | people aged 12 to 35 staying in Austria for education |
| Arrange it before you arrive? | no — enrolment and residence in Austria required, but you may declare in the permit application that you will take it out after arrival | no | you can apply and conclude the contract before departure; cover starts on entry into Austria |
| Health questions | none | none | yes |
| e-card | yes | yes | no — the insurer’s own digital card |
| Earnings limit | total income below €17,677 per calendar year (2026) | not more than €551.10 a month (2026) | none published |
| Doctor’s bills | contract doctors bill the ÖGK directly | contract doctors bill the ÖGK directly | direct settlement where the practice accepts Care Concept; otherwise you pay and send the invoice in for reimbursement |
| Accepted for a residence permit | yes, including as a written declaration to take it out after arrival; MA 35 accepts self-insurance as a substitute for a private policy where there is no waiting period | if it genuinely applies to you | MA 35 lists “Care Austria Education” without a supplementary declaration, “Care Austria 364 Education” only with one — Care Concept issues the declaration with every policy anyway |
Source: RIS: Satzung der Österreichischen Gesundheitskasse, Verlautbarung 68/2025, § 19 (waiting period for self-insured persons, German) (accessed September 2026)
Can I stay on my parents’ insurance?
Sometimes — and where it works it is free. Co-insurance of children in education is possible “at the longest until the 27th birthday”, the student must provide the same proof of academic progress as for family allowance, studying has to be the predominant activity, and earnings must not exceed €551.10 a month, the marginal earnings threshold for 2026. Exceed that and the student is insured in their own right; when a summer job ends, the system switches back automatically.
The catch for international students is the obvious one: this assumes a parent with Austrian statutory cover. If your parents are insured in India, Nigeria or the United States, it is not open to you.
Source: oesterreich.gv.at: Mitversicherung in der Krankenversicherung (German) (accessed September 2026)
Care Austria Education: what it costs, when cover starts, and what it does not do
Care Austria (partner link) is private health insurance for people moving to Austria, written by Advigon Versicherung AG and administered by Care Concept AG in Bonn. Its education rate is for people aged 12 to 35 staying in Austria for education — students, language school students, pre-study courses, doctoral students, visiting academics and au pairs — and the provider states that the premium is guaranteed for six years, for as long as you can prove you are taking part in education or training. The tariff sheet puts the same guarantee more precisely: it runs until you finish the course, at most to your 36th birthday and at most for six years. That guarantee belongs to the open-ended contract, where Education is a discount group. On Care Austria 364 the wording is different: “Care Austria 364 Education” is a tariff in its own right, with eligibility of its own (Part B I of VB-KV 2020_07) and no six-year premium guarantee — there the premium is fixed for the term you choose, and for that term only.
| Care Austria Education, ages 12–35 | Premium per month |
|---|---|
| Term up to 364 days | €51.00 |
| Open-ended term | €56.00 |
Premiums on the open-ended tariff are adjusted in steps set out in the terms, the next on 1 January 2028; statutory ÖGK contributions are adjusted every year as well. Age counts as the calendar year minus your year of birth, every adjustment carries a special right of cancellation, and once you leave the Education discount group you continue at the standard rate. The 364-day contract has no such schedule; its premium is fixed for its term, and the insurer’s general right of adjustment under § 178f of the Insurance Contract Act applies to any follow-on contract.
Benefits match the standard plan: inpatient treatment, with a free choice of public and private hospitals but in the general nursing class (see below), outpatient treatment including doctors without a contract with the statutory funds (Wahlärzte, reimbursed against a scale of fees, also below), medicines, preventive check-ups up to €500 a year, psychotherapy up to €150 a session and €1,500 a year, accident-related medical aids up to €2,500 — aids not needed as the result of an accident are excluded, prescribed glasses are reimbursed up to €100 — dental treatment including fillings, with dental prostheses (Zahnersatz) reimbursed at 80 per cent up to €750 and a treatment and cost plan to be submitted before treatment starts, otherwise only 50 per cent, and medically advised repatriation. Care Concept describes the reimbursement as “in accordance with ÖGK” and issues a digital insurance card.
Now the points where most comparison pages stop being useful, all of them taken from the policy conditions or the authority’s own list.
You can conclude it before you move, but cover starts at the border. The conditions require the application “before the start of the journey abroad, or within one year of the insured person’s entry into the Republic of Austria”. Cover itself begins at the date in the policy document “but not before entry into or crossing the border of the Republic of Austria”, not before the premium is paid, and not before any waiting period has run. The general waiting period is 31 days, waived if you took the policy out before departure, entered Austria within the 31 days before applying, or are continuing comparable cover without a gap; childbirth and dental prostheses have a special waiting period of eight months.
Read the right set of conditions. The two variants have separate policy wordings: VB-KV 2023_10 for the open-ended Care Austria, VB-KV 2020_07 for Care Austria 364. A paragraph from one does not prove anything about the other, and the differences are real — the open-ended contract carries a premium schedule and an ordinary right of cancellation, the 364-day contract carries neither because it simply expires.
We often use Care Austria 364 as the bridge, and the MA 35 list distinguishes the variants. The 364 term is freely chosen, from one month up to a maximum of 364 days — not quite twelve calendar months — and it simply ends when it expires, which suits a bridge to the ÖGK rate; the open-ended contract can first be terminated after one year of insurance, to the end of an insurance year with one month’s notice — and § 3 of those conditions defines the insurance year as the calendar year, so in practice the first realistic exit is 31 December, not the twelve-month anniversary of your start date. Work out that date before you plan the switch to the ÖGK. According to the City of Vienna, “Care Austria” and “Care Austria Education” need no supplementary declaration to the contract, while “Care Austria 364” and “Care Austria 364 Education” are listed only with one — the insurer’s written confirmation that the contract will not be voided if an intention to return home is later found to be missing. Care Concept issues that declaration automatically with the policy, so it is in your file either way. Vienna’s list is the published reference; in our experience the district authorities elsewhere in Austria accept Care Austria as well.
A 364-day contract does not renew by itself. Students typically extend year by year, so plan this one in advance: the follow-on contract has to be applied for on the insurer’s own form before the current contract expires, and it needs the insurer’s express consent (§ 2 no. 6 of VB-KV 2020_07). It then covers what arises after that application; anything already present at that point counts as a pre-existing condition, with the €5,000 excess, and the eight-month waiting period for childbirth and dental prostheses starts again from the beginning of the extension. For a stay that will run for several years the open-ended contract is often the better fit — we go through the dates and the alternatives with you.
Going home is capped, and has to be notified. On the 364 terms, holiday stays in your home country are covered for up to 14 days on contracts of four months or less and up to 28 days on longer ones, and stays in other EU or Schengen countries for up to 30 days — in each case for all such trips during the contract term added together, not per trip. Every trip has to be notified to the insurer in writing before you set off; if it is not, only 50 per cent of the reimbursable costs are paid in the event of a claim (§ 6 no. 1 f and g, § 10 no. 14 e). The open-ended contract covers the EU as such (§ 1 no. 2 with § 6 no. 1); trips home are limited there too, but the allowance runs per insurance year rather than for the whole term.
It asks health questions. “In our online application form you need to answer a few health-related questions.” Pre-existing illnesses, the lasting effects of previous accidents and infirmities are covered under the conditions, but you carry an excess of €5,000 per insured person and insurance year for anything arising from them — on the 364 terms an insurance year means the 364 days counted from the start of the first contract, including any follow-on contracts, so a shorter term does not reduce that excess — and what the insurer pays for such conditions is limited to €30,000 over the whole contract term. Note which way round that works: the €30,000 caps the insurer’s payment, not your own outlay. In practice the excess works out as an exclusion for the condition in question — with one important qualification for treatment in Austria, in the next paragraph. The insurer decides on acceptance: pre-existing conditions can also lead to exclusions, premium loadings or a declined application — an underwriting decision no broker can promise in advance. Care Concept confirms that a loading or an exclusion comes to you as an offer to check and sign, so you see the terms before anything is binding.
The Austria clause is why the authority accepts the policy at all. § 15 of the open-ended conditions, headed “Generalerklärung zum Leistungsumfang”, states that for a stay in Austria all health risks that the ÖGK covers as corresponding compulsory benefits count as covered by the insurer, and that conflicting exclusions, limitations, waiting periods and end periods give way: for those benefits, cost caps and excesses apply at the level at which the ÖGK would bear the cost. Care Austria 364 reaches the same result through § 9 nos. 4 and 5 of VB-KV 2020_07, which override the pre-existing-conditions rules above for a stay in Austria. So the €5,000 excess is not a blanket excess on Austrian treatment; it bites on what goes beyond the ÖGK’s compulsory benefits — private extras — and on treatment outside Austria. What that means for your condition depends on the underwriting decision and the final policy wording, so have both checked before you rely on it.
In hospital it is the general ward, and doctors are reimbursed against a scale of fees. You may choose freely between public and private hospitals, but the conditions provide the general nursing class in a multi-bed room without private medical services — this is not an Austrian Sonderklasse policy, and a private clinic does not change that. Your choice of doctor is free too, yet a Wahlarzt invoice is reimbursed against the official scale of fees or the customary local charges, not in full whatever it says.
Billing depends on the practice. Care Concept settles directly with doctors and hospitals that accept it; where a practice does not, you pay and send the invoice in for reimbursement — the conditions provide for reimbursement against original invoices sent to Care Concept AG. Plan for the money you may have to lay out in those cases, particularly for a hospital stay.
Two further limits: the contract ends automatically when an unlimited residence permit is granted — MA 35 records the same for “Daueraufenthalt EU” — and if you turn 36 during the open-ended contract, insurability is unaffected but the Education discount group falls away and you continue under Care Austria Standard. Care Austria 364 has no such automatic continuation: if the education purpose falls away, a switch from Care Austria 364 Education to Care Austria 364 Standard is possible, but it does not happen by itself. Spouses and children can be insured alongside you, according to Care Concept; ask us for those premiums, they are not in the public table.
Over a three-year degree, at today’s premiums, which will not stay unchanged: about €2,838 for the ÖGK student rate, about €2,016 for the open-ended Education rate. The ÖGK gives you an e-card, contract doctors who bill your fund directly and no health questions; the private policy gives you private clinics, Wahlärzte and a policy you can arrange from home. The Allianz policy, like any other insurer, we can arrange for you after an individual check and calculation — so ask us first; Care Austria you take out through us, online through our partner link.
Sources: Care Concept AG: Care Austria — health insurance for foreign nationals in Austria (premiums as at September 2026 according to Care Concept), Care Austria (open-ended) policy conditions VB-KV 2023_10, §§ 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 15 plus the premium table (German, PDF), Care Austria 364 policy conditions VB-KV 2020_07, §§ 1, 2, 6, 7 and 9 (German, PDF) and City of Vienna (MA 35): accepted private health insurance policies (German) (accessed September 2026)
What happens to my insurance if I take a part-time job?
This decides whether your low-cost student cover survives the year. Austria draws the line at the marginal earnings threshold (Geringfügigkeitsgrenze), €551.10 a month in 2026, and earnings from several small jobs are added together.
Earn above it, and your employer registers you for compulsory health insurance before your first working day. That replaces your voluntary cover: the student self-insurance ends when compulsory insurance begins — one of the few situations in which you may end it before the six-month minimum term. It also ends co-insurance with a parent. Private cover for people moving to Austria is affected in the same way: the Care Austria terms exclude insurability for anyone covered by compulsory insurance under § 4 ASVG (§ 1 no. 3 b of both sets of terms); once that cover actually exists and has been evidenced, insurability lapses and the contract ends with it (open-ended terms § 1 no. 4 with § 2 no. 6 c; 364-day terms § 6 no. 3 e) — without notice.
Earn at or below it, and the job brings no statutory health or pension insurance with it, though marginally employed people are covered by statutory accident insurance for accidents at work. If you have no other health cover you can insure yourself under § 19a of the General Social Insurance Act at €83.49 a month in 2026, covering health and pension insurance — more than the student rate, but it includes cash benefits such as sick pay.
Read this together with the permit rules above: the AMS permit is about hours and authorisation, the €551.10 line is about social insurance. Different systems, and they do not move together. Tell us what you expect to earn and we will tell you what it does to your cover — a 15-minute call is enough.
Sources: ÖGK: Selbstversicherung bei geringfügiger Beschäftigung (German), § 7 in conjunction with § 5(1)(2) ASVG (RIS) and oesterreich.gv.at: Mitversicherung in der Krankenversicherung (German) (accessed September 2026)
What is not covered — and what else should a student in Austria have?
Statutory cover, including the student rate, pays for contract doctors and the general hospital ward. It does not pay for private hospital accommodation and treatment (Sonderklasse), and it treats a doctor without a contract with your statutory fund (Wahlarzt) as a private bill of which only part is reimbursed; dental work beyond the basics is largely on you. That is what Austrian supplementary insurance exists for. Two other covers matter more, and neither is health insurance.
Personal liability. In Austria this is normally part of a home contents insurance (Haushaltsversicherung) rather than a policy of its own, and it pays when you accidentally damage someone else’s property or injure someone. As a guide, home contents cover including personal liability starts at around €9 a month for a small flat of about 55 m², according to our comparison software as at August 2026 — a guide figure, not a quote, because the premium depends on the province, the sum insured and the excess. Our calculator for it runs in German on pointnerfinanz.at/haushaltsversicherung.
Accident cover. Students are not uninsured here: statutory accident insurance covers students free of charge for accidents connected with their studies, and Students’ Union membership adds accident and liability cover within the scope of your studies. But as the Students’ Union itself says, that cover “is NOT health insurance and never replaces it”. It does reach organised university sport — the ÖH lists USI courses, ski courses among them — but not a private Saturday on the piste. And keep the two apart: your health insurance pays for the treatment after a leisure accident, while only accident insurance pays a lump sum for permanent impairment, or for a mountain rescue. That is what private accident insurance is for; ask us what it costs at your age and for the cover you want.
Our English guide Health insurance in Austria covers contract doctors, the e-card, hospital classes and supplementary cover in detail.
Sources: ÖH: Versicherung (German), § 8(1)(3)(i) ASVG (RIS) and OeAD: Insurance — information for scholars (accessed September 2026)
Frequently asked questions
How much is student health insurance in Austria?
ÖGK student self-insurance: €78.84 a month in 2026. Care Austria Education: from €51.00 a month for a term up to 364 days, €56.00 open-ended, according to Care Concept as at September 2026. Standard ÖGK voluntary self-insurance: €565.25, reducible on application. Co-insurance with a parent who holds Austrian statutory cover is free, at the longest until the 27th birthday and only while the other conditions are met — studies as the predominant activity, proof of academic progress, earnings within the marginal threshold.
Can I apply for a student residence permit before taking out ÖGK insurance?
Yes. According to the OeAD, degree-programme students can state in the application that ÖGK student self-insurance will be taken out after entering Austria. The rate itself needs habitual residence and enrolment, so you still insure the journey and the interim period — and you collect the ÖGK confirmation and present it when you pick up the permit.
Does my EHIC cover me for a full degree in Austria?
It can, if you remain entitled through your home system and are not employed here — the European Commission says the EHIC “could be an option, if you are eligible”, while also requiring comprehensive cover in the host country. Ask your home fund in writing; many limit cover in time, often for students older than 28 or 30.
I am a UK student — what do I need after Brexit?
Apply for a Student GHIC: UK government guidance says it gets you medically necessary, state-provided healthcare for your study period in Austria, on the same basis as an Austrian citizen. A valid Student EHIC can be used until it expires.
What insurance does the Austrian authority accept for a student residence permit?
Cover that provides benefits in Austria and covers all risks, proven at the time of application — for degree students, that can be a written declaration that ÖGK self-insurance follows after arrival. A private policy used instead must have no waiting periods, no cost caps and no excluded risks, and it must carry an explicit written statement from the insurer — with Care Austria that declaration comes with the policy documents automatically. Vienna’s MA 35 publishes a list of examined policies; in our experience the district authorities elsewhere in Austria accept Care Austria as well.
When does private incoming cover actually start?
At the date in your policy document, but never before you enter Austria, never before the premium is paid and never before any waiting period has run. Under the Care Austria conditions the general waiting period is 31 days, waived if you took the policy out before departure.
Can I switch from private cover to the ÖGK student rate later?
A common route, with two things to plan: the ÖGK student self-insurance generally has to run six months before you can end it, and your private contract has its own term. A Care Austria contract of up to 364 days ends when it expires and does not renew by itself — a follow-on contract has to be applied for on the insurer’s form before it expires and needs the insurer’s consent; the open-ended one can first be terminated after a year of insurance, to the end of a calendar year with one month’s notice.
Can I work while studying, and what does it do to my insurance?
Third-country students need an employment permit, applied for by the employer at the AMS before the job starts; up to 20 hours a week is possible without a labour market test. Earn more than €551.10 a month in 2026 and compulsory insurance replaces your voluntary student cover. At or below that, you can insure yourself under § 19a ASVG for €83.49 a month.
Not sure which route is yours? Fifteen minutes will settle it
Three questions are worth answering before you buy anything: which cover your authority will accept, how you bridge the weeks between landing and enrolment, and when to move to the ÖGK rate. We will go through them with you in English, at a time that works where you are.
Book a 15-minute call Send an enquiry
You speak directly to Rudolf Adlmanninger — not a call centre, and we do not pass your enquiry to other advisers. Prefer to call? +43 676 322 48 30 (also on WhatsApp – call or message).
Sources
- migration.gv.at: Frequently asked questions
- OeAD: Residence Permit – Student
- Your Europe: Your health insurance cover when living abroad
- Your Europe: Unplanned healthcare during a temporary stay
- oesterreich.gv.at: Registration certificate
- GOV.UK: Healthcare for UK nationals living in Austria
- migration.gv.at: Study in Austria
- Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI): Informationsbroschüre über die Unterhaltsberechnung im NAG, as at 1 January 2026 (German, PDF)
- ÖGK: My self-insurance for students — details (English, PDF, edition 04/2026)
- ÖGK: Selbstversicherung für Studierende (German)
- oesterreich.gv.at: Studentische Selbstversicherung (German)
- Studienbeihilfenbehörde: FAQ, Zuverdienstgrenze (German)
- RIS: Satzung der Österreichischen Gesundheitskasse, Verlautbarung 68/2025, § 19 (waiting period for self-insured persons, German)
- oesterreich.gv.at: Mitversicherung in der Krankenversicherung (German)
- Care Concept AG: Care Austria — health insurance for foreign nationals in Austria
- Care Austria (open-ended) policy conditions VB-KV 2023_10, §§ 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 15 plus the premium table (German, PDF)
- Care Austria 364 policy conditions VB-KV 2020_07, §§ 1, 2, 6, 7 and 9 (German, PDF)
- City of Vienna (MA 35): accepted private health insurance policies (German)
- ÖGK: Selbstversicherung bei geringfügiger Beschäftigung (German)
- § 7 in conjunction with § 5(1)(2) ASVG (RIS)
- ÖH: Versicherung (German)
- § 8(1)(3)(i) ASVG (RIS)
- OeAD: Insurance — information for scholars
Last reviewed: September 2026. Links and figures are checked regularly and updated where needed.