Rickli adjusts the premium discounts: medium-sized companies receive less

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the health insurance premiums for 2024 will be announced by the Federal Council. Experts expect an average premium increase of six to ten percent.

Many people in Switzerland can only pay their health insurance bills because the canton where they live offers a lower premium. But now the canton of Zurich wants to redistribute these premium discounts. This is evident from the canton’s financial planning, which was recently published.

The “Tageszanzeiger” writes that instead of 30 percent of the population, only 24 percent should receive a premium reduction. And this despite the fact that the 30 percent is a political consensus that the canton council decided on a few years ago. Cantonal councilor Nicole Wyss told ‘Tagi’: ‘The government council is dropping an important social policy goal.’ And she does that ‘cowardly’. The public was not explicitly informed.

The canton of Zurich is not making full use of its austerity budget. According to the Tagesanzeiger, 101 million remained in the coffers of the Ministry of Health (GD) last year.

The GD, led by Natalie Rickli (SVP), defends itself against the criticism: “The lower recipient percentage is an expression of the higher level of needs that the canton council was aiming for with the system change,” the “Tagesanzeiger” quotes GD’s head of communications Patrick Borer .

The aim of the system change is that fewer people will receive a premium reduction, but those who do should receive more money. For example, students with wealthy parents or people with a low taxable income are excluded through extraordinary tax deductions. “The new system is very fair,” Borer told the “Tagesanzeiger”. “Every franc ends up in the right place over the years.”

But the fact is: Since 1999, health insurance bills have grown much faster than nominal wages. With every increase in health insurance premiums, the financial pressure on the middle class increases. (yam)