The costs for mandatory health insurance will increase significantly in 2023

According to a study by the Curafutura association, health care costs in compulsory health insurance (OKP) have increased by 4.6 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. The gross costs per insured person therefore amounted to 4,513 francs per year.

For comparison: a cost increase of 2.6 percent was recorded in 2022 compared to the previous year.

In terms of costs, costs increased the most, with an increase of seven percent physiotherapy. This is due to a long-term trend as more conservative treatments are performed, Curafutura said on Saturday. Also in the field of help and care outside the hospital (Spitex), costs increased by 6.1 percent.

A significant increase in costs was also recorded in the inpatient hospital sector, with an increase of 5.3 percent. This is unexpected because the trend is shifting from inpatient to outpatient care. More and more operations can be performed on an outpatient basis without the patient having to spend a night in the hospital. Overall, the inpatient hospital area was responsible for 19 percent of OKP’s total costs. From the perspective of the Curafutura insurance association, outpatient care must therefore be further promoted.

Medicine costs also increased by four percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. According to Curafutura, their share in the costs of basic insurance was 22 percent. According to the association, the rules for setting prices are no longer appropriate given that increasingly expensive therapies are coming onto the market.

He therefore calls on Parliament to introduce the budget impact as a criterion. Curafutura referred to the motion adopted by Josef Dittli, member of the Uri FDP Council of States. This allows the commercial success of a drug to be taken into account by providing for automatic price reductions above a certain sales threshold (e.g. R20 million per year). (sda)