Council of States against stricter rules for health insurance reimbursements
Published: Thursday, Dec 21st 2023, 11:40
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Members of the Federal Council with mandates from health insurance companies will not have to disclose the remuneration associated with these positions. The Council of States has rejected a motion from the National Council calling for more transparency. It has therefore been dealt with.
On Thursday, the small chamber defeated the parliamentary initiative of Lorenzo Quadri from Ticino by 28 votes to 13. The Lega National Councillor is a member of the SVP parliamentary group. Quadri's initiative was supported in particular by left-wing members of the Council of States.
"Genuine concern"
The vote came about because of a motion tabled by Carlo Sommaruga, member of the Geneva SP Council of States. He said that there was "real concern" among the population about this issue. It would not be understood if politicians did not take action on this compensation.
The National Council had clearly approved the initiative in March of this year, namely by 106 votes to 69 with 14 abstentions.
Quadri had argued in the National Council that Parliament was obviously finding it difficult to implement reforms in the area of health insurance. One reason for this could be conflicts of interest. It was justified to treat positions with health insurance companies more strictly than other mandates held by members of parliament.
This is because health insurers offer compulsory health insurance, which is regulated by law. Quadri wanted to include council members who sit on the board of directors or in the management of health insurers or umbrella organizations of such insurers.
However, a majority in the Council of States supported the arguments of the spokesperson of the Council's State Policy Committee. Mathias Zopfi (Greens/GL) said on behalf of the committee that such a transparency obligation only for representatives of health insurance companies would be arbitrary.
It would be unequal treatment to include health insurance fund representatives but not, for example, elected representatives of a public transport company who sit on a transport committee.
Another initiative has more chances
Zopfi also pointed out that the Commission supports a parliamentary initiative by former Geneva Councillor of States Lisa Mazzone (Greens). This demands that members of the Swiss parliament should have to disclose income from secondary employment. According to Zopfi, this is the wiser approach.
According to the committee spokesperson, this proposal will be submitted to the relevant National Council committee in a few weeks' time. If this committee approves the initiative, the responsible Council of States committee can draw up a draft decree on the basis of the initiative.
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