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This week it was announced that premiums would rise by 8.7 percent. This increase is pushing many households in Switzerland to their limits. The young parties agree that politicians must act now. But when it comes to recipes, opinions differ widely.
Premiums will rise dramatically next year with an increase of 8.7 percent. The increase did not come as a surprise, but politicians currently do not have a ready-made solution on how to deal with the rising costs.
Stephanie Gartenmann from the Junge SVP said at the beginning of the program: “A whole bunch of measures are needed.” One measure that is on the table is the SP’s premium relief initiative. Magdalena Erni from the Young Greens supports the initiative: “It is incredibly important that we now expand the premium reductions.”
Above all, the expansion must be social, in other words: “Those who have more pay more premiums,” says Erni. The president of Junge GLP, Tobias Vogeli, also sees the premium reduction as an important instrument for relieving the burden on premium payers.
The two middle political parties, EPP and the Center, did not agree. The president of the Young EPP Thurgau, Pascale Leuch, was surprised by the no vote from Young Center President Marc Rüdisüli: “That surprises me, because the center wants to take a step in the right direction and this proposal would be such a step.” Rüdisüli replied that the expansion of premium reductions was intended to be too short-term. “Ultimately, we are pumping more money into the system instead of reducing costs.”
“Getting to the root of the evil”
The President of the Young Liberals, Matthias Müller, wants to “get to the root of the problem” and reduce healthcare costs. One possible solution is a so-called budget health insurance fund, in which an insured person can voluntarily forego services in order to pay less premium. That makes sense because “not every person travels in first class on the SBB. What’s important is that you get from A to B.”
Gartenmann supported the FDP initiative: “This would allow patients to decide for themselves what risk they would like to take.” Juso President Siegrist pointed out that the budget health insurance company could endanger solidarity in the health system. Rüdisüli agreed: “This could lead to a two-class system in which those with higher incomes can afford good health care and others cannot.”
Proposed solutions from the SVP and the Center also received little approval. In its cost brake initiative, the center is calling for a cost cap in the healthcare system. If the costs increased too much, the federal government and the cantons would have to take measures.
Among other things, the SVP wants immigrants to have to pay more premiums if they have not previously paid into the Swiss health system. “Even if this is a taboo topic for the other parties, we have to talk about this factor,” said Gartenmann.
Almost everyone wants to start with hospital planning
Politicians have to use the books when planning hospitals. Near the end of the “Arena” almost everyone agrees on this. “Every little town has its own hospital” – this principle causes enormously high costs, argued Vogeli from the GLP. Although Siegrist only partially agreed, he still said: “There are actually false incentives at hospitals.” These would lead to high costs that could be avoided.
No matter whether short-term or long-term – there are a lot of proposed solutions on the table. The question, however, is which of the measures against rising healthcare costs will be able to gain a majority in parliament.