Swiss insurance to continue covering acupuncture and homeopathy

Acupuncture and homeopathy will continue to be reimbursed Keystone-SDA

Acupuncture and homeopathy will continue to be automatically reimbursed by Swiss basic health insurance. Against the advice of the House of Representatives, the Senate has tacitly rejected a motion to restrict coverage of certain alternative treatments.

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The motion was put forward by parliamentarian Philippe Nantermod from the centre-right Radical Liberal party. The motion called for five treatment approaches – acupuncture, homeopathy, phytotherapy, anthroposophic medicine and the pharmacotherapy of traditional Chinese medicine – to no longer be covered by basic health insurance.

They should become an optional benefit, as is the case today with accidents, according to Nantermod. Such a change would run counter to the will of the population, which voted in 2009 in favour of coverage under basic insurance, said Hannes Germann from the right-wing Swiss People’s party, speaking on behalf of the committee.

Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider agreed with the vote and said that the savings generated by ending coverage would not be very large.

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Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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