Position paper on the cost brake initiative

Do not jeopardise security of supply

Swiss patients have an interest in a stable and progressive healthcare system. The centre's initiative for lower premiums - cost brake in the healthcare system, focusses only on costs. In doing so, it jeopardises the security of care and access to medical progress. Costs cannot be ignored. The pharmaceutical industry also recognises its responsibility and has contributed well over a billion Swiss francs to cost reductions in the healthcare sector since 2012 with the statutory triennial price reviews for medicines. Rigid cost limits, on the other hand, only ration access to medical progress and hinder innovation. Consequently, scienceindustries rejects the initiative. 

This centrist initiative calls for the Federal Council, Parliament and the cantons to intervene in the event of excessive increases in healthcare costs. This cost brake should take effect as soon as the annual average increase in the costs of compulsory healthcare insurance per insured person exceeds the development of an indicator (nominal wages, price index, etc.) not defined more precisely by the initiators. Cost containment measures should then be introduced on a mandatory basis. The initiative leaves open the key question of what exactly should happen when this limit is reached: The only thing that is clear is that implementation should take place in consultation with the cantons and the tariff partners.  

Access to innovation must not be rationed

To summarise, it can be said that the initiative wants to introduce a cost cap, which will probably result in a form of global budget. scienceindustries rejects global budget models. Fixed annual cost limits, targets or global budgets prevent innovation and ration access to medical progress for all patients. The initiative is not well thought out, only poses questions without offering clear proposals for solutions and thus leads to countless uncertainties. For example, what will happen to patients if an annual budget is exhausted one day?

It is not a question of introducing new measures that are drastic for patients. Rather, false incentives in the financing of basic insurance should be eliminated and, for example, the principle of "outpatient before inpatient" should be consistently enforced. In addition, more transparency about costs and quality in all areas of the healthcare system is also desirable. In this way, everyone would contribute to a financially viable healthcare system that makes medical progress and innovation available to everyone.

Parliament has adopted an indirect counter-proposal to the cost brake initiative. This essentially provides for the introduction of cost and quality targets for the healthcare system. The Federal Council is to set targets for services every four years in accordance with the Federal Health Insurance Act (KVG). The Federal Council is also to be given additional subsidiary powers with regard to tariffs for inpatient treatment. Parliament has thus taken up and partially implemented key concerns of the initiative.