Swiss insurance boss proposes Singapore-style healthcare system

Sanitas boss proposes Singapore-style healthcare system Keystone-SDA

Andreas Schönenberger, CEO of Swiss health insurer Sanitas, told the Tamedia media group that the health system should be reformed to emphasise the individual responsibility of policyholders. He argues that healthcare costs could be reduced if Switzerland were to follow the Singapore model.

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In Singapore’s system, each individual saves for his or her own medical expenses, and the insurance company intervenes only for costly interventions. This would reduce costs and create greater transparency, says the head of Sanitas in an interview published on Saturday by the German-language newspapers of the Tamedia media group.

For socially disadvantaged groups, Schönenberger proposes state participation in the form of a public fund, as is the case in Singapore.

He also proposes discounts on supplementary insurance for policyholders with a healthy lifestyle. This measure is not allowed in basic insurance, he points out. “People who exercise a lot and have a healthy weight should receive money in return”.

No single health insurer

On the other hand, the Sanitas boss rejects the idea of a single health insurer. Thanks to competition, health insurers today have an incentive to cut costs and remain innovative, he asserts.

Social Democratic parliamentarian Pierre-Yves Maillard, President of the Swiss Trade Union Confederation, reiterated on Thursday his desire to launch a new popular initiative aimed at establishing a public health insurance scheme.

The contours of this new initiative are “currently being discussed”, he added. However, he had already indicated that, in his view, this public health insurance scheme should not be national, but based on “cantonal systems”.

Translated from French by DeepL/jdp

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