Disagreement over costs: Asylum seekers place a heavy burden on health care

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In the asylum debate, the healthcare costs of asylum seekers are at the forefront in right-wing circles. Until now there was no data on this. A breakdown of the statistics for compulsory health insurance by residence status and nationality is currently not possible, the Federal Council replied in August 2021 to a request from SVP party chairman Thomas Aeschi. Now the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has provided data on this for the first time and exclusively for the observer. This is possible because the health insurer CSS has included all asylum seekers staying in the Federal Asylum Seekers Centers (BAZ) in Switzerland since June 2019 in the compulsory health insurance according to the GP model.

The SEM could access this data. The costs of the medical services claimed by the asylum seekers were compared with the average costs for the population.

Data represents only a short period of time

The evaluation does not show a clear picture. In 2020 and 2021, the costs for asylum seekers were 27 percent and 23 percent higher than for the rest of the population. In 2022, on the other hand, they were 4 percent lower.

In absolute figures, asylum seekers under the care of the federal government caused an average cost of CHF 1,070 per person in 2020. In 2021 it was 921 francs, in 2022 814 francs. Not included are dental costs, costs for over-the-counter medications and certain non-medical therapies.

“Asylum seekers, on average, remain in the care of the federal government for about 70 days after arrival and require medical treatment, especially during this time. We only have data for this period,” says Samuel Wyss of the SEM. The extrapolation for the year therefore hardly corresponds to the effective annual costs. The amount may be too high.

It is understandable that asylum seekers have to go to the doctor more often on average. Escaping poverty and persecution endangers both physical and mental health. But: “The costs apparently have been falling continuously since 2019,” says SP National Councilor Samira Marti about the SEM evaluation.

“We find cost differences in many groups of insured persons. The elderly incur higher costs than young people, extreme athletes more than the rest of the population. Our care system is essentially based on social solidarity, which goes beyond the boundaries of age, origin and lifestyle,” says Marti.

SVP party chairman Thomas Aeschi was much more critical of the result. It is positive that the first data is finally available. However, the evaluation only shows half of the truth, because the population of asylum seekers is younger and more male than the rest of the population.

The group of young men causes the lowest costs in the average population. “You’re comparing apples and oranges here. If you were to remove the effect of the unequal age distribution, the result would be even worse,” says Aeschi.

Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider must act now: “A slimmed-down version of health insurance is needed for asylum seekers,” demands the SVP National Council. In the future, not all services will have to be paid for, but only “medical care” instead of the “luxury variant”. Which services can be waived should be further clarified.

No ‘luxury medicine’ in the basic insurance

The Professional Association of Swiss Doctors (FMH) has no understanding for this demand. “Differentiation based on residence status is contrary to the medical-ethical principles of our professional code,” said a spokesperson. In addition, there are no luxury provisions in the basic insurance. The supplementary insurance is there for such people.

Samira Marti also sees no need for action based on the SEM evaluation. It is important that those seeking protection receive the medical and psychological care they need.

Source:Blick