On 9 June, voters in Switzerland will decide on two popular initiatives to address the problem of soaring healthcare costs: the SP’s health insurance premium cap and the Centre’s cost control mechanism.
The SP wants to introduce a cap on health insurance premiums. Under its proposal, no policyholder would have to spend more than 10 per cent of their disposable income on health insurance. The state would then have to finance the difference. Premium relief is already applied at cantonal level but in extremely different ways, and the authors of the initiative believe it is insufficient. They also want relief for middleincome as well as lowincome households, enabling a family of four to save up to several hundred Swiss francs a month.
This left-wing initiative goes too far and merely papers over the cracks by tackling the symptoms, not the causes, say the centre-right and right-wing parties. More importantly, it would lead to a whopping 4.2 billion francs in extra costs every year, they argue. Nevertheless, parliament has decided that the cantons should provide more money to subsidise premiums – but nowhere near the sum the campaigners want. This indirect counterproposal will be implemented if voters reject the SP proposal.
Link to initiative: bezahlbare-praemien.ch
The Centre is proposing a different way to reduce healthcare costs, with a cost control mechanism that would oblige the Confederation and cantons to intervene if healthcare costs rise faster than wages. It hopes that this measure will put downward pressure on mandatory health insurance costs. The party believes, for example, that there are potential cost savings to be made on medicine, which is expensive to buy in Switzerland, and that more should be done to incentivise outpatient procedures, which cost less than inpatient treatment.
Opponents of the initiative – which include the Swiss medical associations – warn of the “harmful side effects” of any cost control mechanism, saying that it could, at worst, lead to long waiting lists and a two-tier health system. Both the Federal Council and parliament have dismissed the proposal as being too inflexible. But again, they have drawn up an indirect counterproposal that would see the government stipulate cost and quality targets every four years while taking account of factors such as ageing demographics and advances in medical technology. The idea is that this would increase transparency around which costs are justified on medical grounds.
Link to initiative: die-mitte.ch/kostenbremse-initiative
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Comments
Comments :
Das Problem mit den Gesundheitskosten ist leicht zu lösen indem die Ärzte weniger Honorare verlangen. Die Krankenkassen sollten die Möglichkeit haben und bestimmen, wie viel ein Arzt verdienen soll. Es genügen doch 200,000 im Jahr. Es ist besser man gibt dem Personal bessere Löhne. Eine Krankenschwester oder Krankenpfleger sollte nicht ausgenützt werden nur weil er bereit ist solche Dienste zu leisten. Würde nichts schaden, wenn die auch 100,000 im Jahr verdienen würden. Dann wäre es auch noch möglich die Pharma Industrie etwas zu bremsen. Es ist doch Unsinn, wenn zur Herstellung eines Produkts 50 Rappen gebraucht werden und dann in der Apotheke 30 Franken kosten. Ich kann nur sagen, wo sind wir ein einig Volk von Brüdern geblieben die Zusammenhalten und einander nicht ausnützen, da müssen die Politiker ihre Kräfte einsetzen. Leider sind die auch zu schwach und denken in erster Linie nur an sich selbst mit Ausnahme von Christoph Blocher.