National Council committee says yes to hospital emergency bagatelle fee
Published: Friday, Nov 17th 2023, 17:00
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The idea of a kind of fine for people who attend a hospital emergency without instructions from a healthcare professional has cleared another hurdle. The National Council's Social Security and Health Committee (SGK-N) voted 13 to 11 in favor of a preliminary draft bill.
According to this preliminary draft, the deductible of an insured person will be increased by CHF 50 if they visit a hospital emergency room without a written referral from a doctor, a telemedicine center or a pharmacist. This was announced by the parliamentary services on Friday.
According to the preliminary draft, pregnant women and children are excluded from this regulation. The regulation should only apply to people who are subject to compulsory health insurance. According to the parliamentary services, the final version of the preliminary draft is expected to be submitted for consultation in the second quarter of 2024.
By 12 votes to 4 with 7 abstentions, the SGK-N voted in favor of leaving the decision on the introduction of such a deductible increase to the cantons.
Two variants tested
The SGK-N has thus opted for the second of two variants that it had examined. The first option was that an incentive tax would have had to be paid by anyone using a hospital emergency room under the circumstances mentioned.
The Commission was in favor of the variant with the increase in the deductible because it believes that the scope of application is clear and uniform and that there would be no additional work for the specialists on site. For example, they would not have to decide what is an emergency and what is not
In February, the committee decided to have two variants for the implementation of a parliamentary initiative by the Zurich GLP National Councillor Martin Bäumle based on this idea. Bäumle wants to relieve the burden of hospital emergencies.
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