The right to health & “special class” preventative care

Year after year, World Health Day is celebrated all over the world on April 7th. A DONAU survey for 2024 will shed light on how Austrians rate their physical and mental health. DONAU insurance solutions show how you can take precautions in the event of a hospital stay due to illness.

With World Health Day, which is celebrated on April 7th, the World Health Organization (WHO) commemorates its founding in 1948. Every year it identifies a new health topic of global relevance in order to bring it to the attention of the world public. The motto for 2024 is “My health, my rights”. The WHO would like to draw attention to the fact that at least 4.5 billion people*, i.e. more than half of the world’s population, are not fully provided with essential health services – and that these people need to be encouraged in their right to health.

Physical and Mental Health Survey

On the occasion of this year’s day of action, DONAU Versicherung conducted an Austria-wide study to determine the state of health and preferred health measures among Austrians. In the online survey conducted in March 2024 by the market research institute Triple M of 800 people between the ages of 18 and 75 representative of the Austrian population, both physical and mental health were put to the test.

The encouraging core result: Three quarters of Austrians rate their own physical and mental health as somewhat or very healthy. The evaluation of the question about the connection between physical and psychological is interesting. 92 percent of those surveyed who consider themselves to be very healthy physically also feel mentally healthy. On the other hand, 57 percent of those who are physically unhealthy also classify themselves as mentally unhealthy. The gap between physical and mental health is widest among those under 30. Although boys (84 percent) consider themselves to be by far the healthiest compared to other age cohorts, 37 percent of this age group state that they feel somewhat or very unhealthy psychologically.

Self and external assessment

When asked about the assessment of the “health of the Austrian population as a whole,” the study revealed a discrepancy between self-perception and external perception. Your own health is rated as significantly better than the health of the population as a whole. In numbers: While only 25 percent of those surveyed classify themselves as physically unhealthy, 58 percent of Austrians attest to fairly/very poor physical health. A similar picture emerges in the psychological area: when rating their own self-image, 26 percent say it is “unhealthy”; when it comes to external assessments, the figure is 64 percent.

»With our study on World Health Day, we wanted to take a closer look at the health situation and current precautionary behavior of Austrians to ensure that we offer the best possible insurance solutions for everyone. It is particularly important to us to understand the concerns and needs of the younger generation, which is why we commissioned a representative study on young people last year.«

Judith Havasi

General Director of DONAU Insurance

Health maintenance measures

The fact that 48 percent and 65 percent of those surveyed believe that the physical and mental health of Austrians has somewhat or very much worsened in recent years shows how much external stress (specifically: Corona, increases in the cost of living) has an impact on health can influence. Those surveyed agree on what health depends on and what needs to be done about it. More than nine out of ten of the study participants recognize the importance of fresh air, enough sleep, regular exercise in conjunction with a healthy diet and avoiding alcohol and nicotine. The term and benefits of gender medicine are less well known: only 20 percent know what gender medicine means.

Best possible insurance performance

“With our World Health Day study, we wanted to take a closer look at the health situation and current precautionary behavior of Austrians to ensure that we offer the best possible insurance solutions for everyone. It is particularly important to us to understand the concerns and needs of the younger generation, which is why we commissioned a representative study on young people last year,” emphasizes Judit Havasi, General Director of DONAU Versicherung.

One thing is clear: the topic of health also includes precautionary and insurance behavior. According to the study, around a third of Austrians have private supplementary health insurance, whether private doctor, special class or daily allowance insurance. The main motives for taking out additional insurance are quickly available doctor’s appointments or treatment (31 percent) and the choice of treating doctors (19 percent).

Offers: Special class insurance & Securmed Junior

More than two million hospital stays are documented in Austria every year. The average length of stay is 6.3 days.** If you want to spend this time as pleasantly as possible, you should consider the option of special class insurance. With DONAU’s special class insurance, Securmed Inpatient, patients can fully concentrate on their recovery. With this offer, DONAU is taking into account the increasing demand for health care, especially among young people. Particularly for this age group, entry is made easier with attractive premiums and the general waiver of deductibles.

DONAU also has an offer for those who want to take care of their children’s health and only have a small budget. DONAU health insurance Securmed Junior provides first-class care after an accident and modern treatments.

The purpose of this article is to provide short and concise information about DONAU Versicherung’s products. It is not an offer in the legal sense. The content has been carefully prepared, but the shortened presentation may lead to misleading or incomplete impressions. For binding information, we refer to the complete application documents, the policies and the underlying insurance conditions.

Sources:
* https://www.who.int/europe/de/news-room/events/item/2024/04/07/default-calendar/world-health-day-2024–my-health–my-right
** https://www.statistics.at/