The Council of States Recommends Rejecting the SP Bonus Relief Initiative
Published: Wednesday, Sep 13th 2023, 09:40
Updated At: Friday, Oct 13th 2023, 14:12
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The Swiss Council of States has recommended that the people and cantons reject the SP's Prämienentlastungsinitiative, a referendum that would require people to spend no more than 10% of their income on health insurance premiums. The Council voted 33 to 11 in favour of the recommendation. The majority of the Council pointed to the counterproposal to the referendum, which was approved by the National Council on Tuesday. This law would require cantons to spend a minimum of 3.5 to 7.5 percent of the costs of mandatory basic health insurance on premium relief. The compromise would cost the cantons an estimated 356 million Swiss francs. The bürgerliche Mehrheit (conservative majority) described the counterproposal as a "big step" while the left-wing Ratslinke (left-wing majority) and the GLP (Green Liberal Party) called it an "inadequate solution". The Council's recommendation is now ready for the final vote. The bürgerliche Mehrheit argued that the initiative would be too costly to implement, and that the counterproposal was the only feasible way forward. Hans Stöckli of the SP (Socialist Party) welcomed the upcoming referendum campaign, saying it was up to the cantons to explain why the Parliament had chosen measures that were only a tenth of the size proposed by the initiative.nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
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