The costs for sobering up in the hospital usually have to be borne by yourself, the Lower Austrian Chamber of Labor (AKNÖ) informed in a press release on the Thursday before New Year’s Eve. Hospitals in the state charge between 1,000 and almost 1,500 euros for a calendar day’s stay for people who are only admitted to sober up and do not need any further treatment. “Diagnosing intoxication is an expensive pleasure,” warned AKNÖ social rights expert Josef Fraunbaum.
The ÖGK only has to pay from the point at which a severely intoxicated person requires continued observation, the AKNÖ said after several inquiries. If you are brought in at 11 p.m. and stay until the next morning, you get two calendar days. Fraunbaum calculated that this would cost 2,000 to 3,000 euros.
