30 settembre 2022 – After four years of stability, health insurance premiums will rise again in 2023. The median premium will be CHF 334.70, an increase of 6.6 percent compared to 2022. Since 2018, the increase has thus averaged 1.5 percent, compared to 3.8 percent in the previous five years (2013-2018). Health insurance premiums reflect health care costs. After four years in which health insurance premiums have remained relatively stable, the increase announced for 2023 is significant. It is mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which placed a heavy burden on the health system. The pandemic caused both direct costs, for example for the treatment of hospitalised patients and vaccinations, and indirect costs, such as those caused by postponed medical interventions (catch-up effect), which increased sharply from the second half of 2021. Health costs increased by 4.5 percent in 2021, and this trend continued in the first half of 2022.

Various measures to curb healthcare costs have already been implemented, including the reduction of laboratory tariffs and pharmaceutical prices, as well as adjustments in Health Technology Assessments (HTA). Recently, the Federal Council submitted a second package of measures for cost containment in health insurance as well as a counterproposal to the cost brake initiative of the "Die Mitte" party to parliament. It has also sent an amendment to the Health Insurance Ordinance for consultation, which is intended to achieve savings, for example by promoting generic medicines more strongly.

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