Councils Argue Over Last Detail in Cost Brake Proposal
Published: Wednesday, Sep 13th 2023, 09:09
Updated At: Friday, Oct 13th 2023, 14:12
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The Swiss Parliament is attempting to reduce the growth of healthcare costs with several measures. The two chambers of Parliament, the National Council and the Council of States, have agreed on most of the points of the indirect counter-proposal to the Cost Containment Initiative of the Middle Party. The only remaining difference is that the National Council wants to mandate independent third parties to carry out an evidence-based process to determine if certain treatments are no longer effective or cost-effective. The Parliament will vote on this issue on Thursday. The Cost Containment Initiative seeks to combat the growth of healthcare costs by requiring the Federal Council, Parliament and cantons to intervene if the healthcare costs increase more than a fifth of the nominal wage growth. The counter-proposal would introduce cost and quality targets for the healthcare system, with the Federal Council setting targets every four years. If the targets are not met, the Federal Council would not make any further recommendations. The initiative committee believes the counter-proposal does not go far enough. The Council of States recommended the initiative be rejected with a vote of 29 to 14. The National Council and Federal Council had previously also voted to reject the initiative. The Parliament will vote on the issue on Thursday.nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
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