Criticism of budget health insurance: “We reject circumventing the solidarity system”

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SonntagsBlick: Mrs. Gedamke, the FDP advocates a budget health insurance fund. What do you think of that?
Susanne Gedamke: Not good at all. Sure, rising premiums are a problem. However, only people who hardly need the system benefit from a budget model. The FDP demands that those who purchase more services must pay more. This is contrary to the principle of solidarity in health care. In addition, no one is immune from getting sick.

What would such a model mean for patients?
It led to great uncertainty. Anyone who is rarely a patient can decide to do this. But health can quickly turn in a different direction. And then you get stuck in a system that ensures that certain benefits can be obtained abroad.

Why would that be problematic?
We know from interventions in aesthetic medicine or dentistry that this often goes wrong. The treatment of complications that may arise after such an operation is not reimbursed in Switzerland. It is extremely difficult for the patient to judge the quality of a service provider. In the absence of better knowledge, people put themselves in a bad position.

If you don’t believe in homeopathy, you should be able to do without it – and pay a lower premium for it.
If you had to pay only for the services you receive, it would be a complete paradigm shift – undermining our system of solidarity. People who are seriously ill and chronically ill through no fault of their own are disadvantaged. We firmly reject that.

Today, an “all you can eat” mentality is widespread, says the FDP.
The supply determines the demand – the system suffers from that. There are too many lucrative offers that are actively used. Patients need to be better informed about the quality and benefits of these services.

So we should close hospitals to stop premium growth?
Not every canton and every hospital has to provide all services. No doubt: the federal system makes everything more expensive. A concentration of offers is urgently needed here.

Will that be enough?
Digitization must also move forward. Here we are in the Stone Age. The digital patient record is a first and important step – albeit not in the form we had hoped. At the same time, there must be an awareness that not everything that can be done should be done. High demands combined with many offers can lead to an oversupply in certain medical areas, while elsewhere there is a shortage in every nook and cranny. l Interview with Peter Aeschlimann

Source:Blick