“I was especially surprised that Berset still defended his bad reforms.”

Federal councilor Alain Berset announced today that health insurance premiums will increase by 8.7 percent next year. What do you say about this news?
Felix Schneuwly: This is truly a steep increase and will hit the lower middle class and everyone below hard. You now have to save extremely to be able to pay your premiums. And while the cost of living is constantly rising. But what irritates me most is that this premium increase could have been prevented.

How could that have been prevented??
If the health insurance reserves had not been tapped after the corona pandemic. Now their reserves have been used up. They must therefore pass on the increased healthcare costs to the insured. What is particularly tragic about the whole story is that this is not the first time that the Federal Council has made this wrong decision. It’s the third time. And each time the situation ended with a premium shock for the insured. Politics does not learn from the past.

At today’s media conference, federal councilor Alain Berset said the reforms have tried to keep premium increases as low as possible.
Yes. I was especially surprised that Alain Berset defended his poor reforms of the past ten years at the media conference. The two savings packages in particular only create unnecessary administrative work for medical staff. Not only is this expensive, it also increases the shortage of skilled workers. People become doctors or nurses because they want to help people, not to fill out documents. But the Federal Council’s counter-proposal against the Centre’s cost saving initiative and the SP’s premium assistance initiative are also unnecessary.

Why are these initiatives unnecessary?
Our law already offers solutions. If cantons do not pass on the money promised by the federal government for premium reductions to their people, this can be claimed. The Federal Court has already ruled on this in the case of the Canton of Lucerne. And yet the canton of Zurich, for example, now wants to reduce premium discounts again. And in the case of the cost brake initiative: all healthcare institutions are already obliged to only undertake interventions and therapies that are really necessary. Nevertheless, our system is designed in such a way that those who are currently doing as much as possible benefit from it.

Do you think our healthcare system can still be saved?
Absolute. All we need to do is finally make bold reforms. Companies that reward efficiency and quality instead of mere quantity. And at the same time, bad reforms from the past must be reversed. For example, cost control and quality bureaucracy.

Are there statements at a political level that you can no longer hear about health insurers?
Yes. Always blaming others for this. I would be in favor of any actor who wants to contribute something to the discussion first pointing out his own potential for improvement. I would also be happy if politicians would finally understand that there is no point in making the same proposals over and over again. New approaches are needed…