Swiss voters back single-payer health insurance

Residents may stop comparing health-insurance premiums, should the single-payer insurance be accepted Keystone

The proposal of creating a single fund for health insurance would be accepted by voters if the ballot for the initiative were held today, according to a poll commissioned by the pharmaceutical lobby group Interpharma.

About 65 per cent of the population would approve the proposal and 28 per cent would reject it, according to the first poll conducted on the issue. The result is still not very conclusive, as only about 31 per cent of people surveyed said they would actually participate in the vote.

In 2014 or 2015, the initiative for public health insurance will be put to a nationwide vote, which if accepted will see current providers of basic cover replaced by a single public fund. Under Swiss law, health insurance is compulsory, and residents currently may choose between offerings of about 60 companies which provide coverage.

The initiative – supported by the centre-left Social Democrats and by the Greens as well as by patient and consumer organisations – would leave only supplemental insurance in the hands of private companies.

The survey was conducted as part of the 2013 Health Monitor by GfS Bern research and polling institute.  The Health Monitor also showed that three out of four people in Switzerland view the health system in Switzerland positively, the highest share ever.