Ethics committee criticizes blacklists of defaulting premium payers
Published: Tuesday, Jan 16th 2024, 12:01
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According to the National Ethics Commission (NEK), blacklists for late premium payers violate fundamental ethical principles. The lists are also problematic from a legal and health policy perspective.
Financially motivated withholding of medical treatment contradicts the principles of justice, fairness and solidarity, wrote the National Ethics Committee (NEC) in the field of human medicine in a statement published on Tuesday.
However, this is precisely the principle of blacklists. If people do not pay their health insurance premiums, the cantons have had the option since 2012 to blacklist them and only reimburse them for emergency treatment. Most cantons in Switzerland have never introduced such blacklists, while others have already abolished them. Currently, only the cantons of Aargau, Thurgau, Lucerne, Zug and Ticino have blacklists.
Counterproductive
According to the NEK, the measure hits the weakest hardest, namely economically and health disadvantaged people. According to the NEK, the blacklists confront doctors with a decision-making dilemma, as they must either violate their professional ethics or risk not being reimbursed for their services.
In addition, the lists are counterproductive, wrote the NEK. The omission of preventive and early detection measures leads to higher healthcare costs overall.
In the communication, the NEK called for the practice of blacklisting to be reconsidered and for a regulation to be introduced that takes the aforementioned problems adequately into account.
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