Skin cancer screening in Lower Austria: Visits to the doctor soon pay privately!

Skin cancer screening in Lower Austria: Visits to the doctor soon pay privately!

In a drastic turn of health care, patients in Lower Austria will in future have to pay for the birthmark control for dermatologists. This was announced by the Medical Association, which recommends that skin cancer screening no longer be settled through the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK). So far, patients have been able to use this important investigation free of charge, but the pressure on the dermatologists in view of the overcrowding of the practices makes this change inevitable. The investigations will now cost between 60 and 90 euros, which causes some confusion, as orf.at reports.

This measure arrives in an alarming context, because skin cancer is considered one of the most common cancer. Memmarks, or liver spots, may be able to turn into malignant skin cancer. The detection of skin changes is crucial, since skin cancer generally does not cause pain in the early stages and is therefore easily overlooked. Cancer researcher Christian Posch emphasizes that annual control is not sensible for everyone and instead risk groups should be identified that require special protection. In the event of abnormalities, patients should definitely consult their dermatologists, as well as MOOCI.ORG point out.

The consequences of this change could be far -reaching, since early detection of skin changes significantly improves the chances of recovery. The Lower Austrian patient attorney Michael Prunbauer is critical of this regulation: "It is a shame that the population is now uncertainty". Access to important health care seems to be restricted by the assumption of costs of the health insurance companies, while experts recommend self -observation and regular visits to the doctor to be essential in order to be able to identify skin cancer in good time.