Parliament does not want uniform cantonal coffers
Published: Tuesday, Mar 5th 2024, 12:00
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The cantons will not be given any new influence over compulsory health insurance. After the Council of States, the National Council also spoke out on Tuesday against the creation of cantonal institutions that can set uniform premiums and finance benefits.
The Grand Chamber rejected an initiative by the canton of Vaud by 123 votes to 61 with no abstentions - against the wishes of the left-wing of the Council. The Council of States had already rejected the initiative in the spring session a year ago. Now it is off the table.
The background to the state initiative was that the popular initiative for a single health insurance fund was accepted in the French-speaking cantons of Vaud, Geneva, Jura and Neuchâtel in 2014. In German-speaking Switzerland, however, the idea failed.
With the initiative, the canton of Vaud wanted in particular to stop the "hunt for good risks". It argued that better risk pooling also meant that fewer reserves were needed in the area of health insurance.
The conservative majority of the National Council's Health Committee considered the plan to be an excessive and unnecessary intervention in the existing system. Experience abroad showed that public healthcare systems did not work any better.
A minority objected that there was only a pseudo-competition between health insurers today, which was not able to curb the rise in premiums.
©Keystone/SDA
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