Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

There’s still snow on the peaks but it’s time to hit the beach as the summer-like weather continues in Switzerland. Last weekend saw balmy conditions that broke daily temperature records for April in some parts of the country. On Saturday many places on the northern side of the Alps recorded temperatures of over 25° Celsius; it was 28°C in Binningen, canton Basel.

Read on for more news and stories from Switzerland.

The University of Basel researchers found that the probability of making a free throw rose if a female player had previously received a friendly touch of support from teammates. KEYSTONE

In the news: basketball research, hotel visits up, employers push for higher retirement age and French convoy crosses Switzerland.

• After a record year in 2023, the Swiss hotel industry is enjoying a positive early start to the year, mainly thanks to large numbers of foreign visitors.
• Despite last month’s nationwide vote that rejected the idea of raising the Swiss retirement age, the Swiss Employers’ Association is keen to increase the retirement age to 66. This would have to take place in small steps, according to the association’s president, Severin Moser.
• The head of strategy of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party’s youth wing, Sarah Regez, has denied any past knowledge of the Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner. The Austrian, who holds hardline views on migration, has been barred from the UK, the US and Germany.
• A train loaded with around 70 French army vehicles has crossed Switzerland destined for the “Strategic Reserve Force” that will support the European Union military mission (EUFOR ALTHEA) in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• How to solve Switzerland’s housing problems? Residential buildings in Swiss cities should be made one or two storeys taller wherever possible to create more living space, according to the centre-right Radical-Liberal party.
• An investigation led by four independent experts has been launchedExternal link into why the historic Simplon passenger boat, which belongs to the CGN navigation company, was badly damaged during heavy winds while moored at Cully on Lake Geneva last month.
• Patting a player on the back can help increase the chances of scoring in basketball, according to research by the University of Basel. Swiss scientists found that female basketball players were more likely to score a free throw if their teammates gave them a friendly tap on the shoulder or squeeze of the hand beforehand.

Health insurance premium cards. KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / CHRISTIAN BEUTLER

Impact of health premium initiative could vary widely by canton.

On June 9, Swiss voters are set to decide whether to cap health premiums at 10% of income. If the initiative by the left-wing Social Democratic Party passes, it is likely to have very different consequences, depending on where you live as subsidies paid to the most precarious households vary widely, according to Swiss public radio, RTS.

Currently, most cantons add a percentage of personal wealth to any income declared for taxes, but at a very variable rate (3-50%), when deciding whether a Swiss resident is entitled to a subsidy. Some cantons take into account children, but others do not.

In most cases it is up to the insured person to request a subsidy; they are only paid automatically in seven cantons. Ultimately, these and other differences mean that a person on a modest income has a better chance getting help in Vaud, Geneva or Zug than in Appenzell.

“This is above all a problem for the cantons which have dissociated themselves and reduced subsidies for part of their population,” Social Democrat councillor Brigitte Crottaz told RTS.

Vaud limits health insurance premiums to 10% of income, which is unique in Switzerland. “In other cantons which have really insufficient premium reductions, the percentages of their premiums can reach 14 or even 20% of their taxable income, which is really totally exaggerated,” she says.

On the political right, however, these differences are considered fair, as the context is not the same in each canton, such as different medical services and taxes. For Tobias Bär, head of communications for the Conference of Cantonal Health Directors, this a simple consequence of federalism. “The health system in Appenzell Inner-Rhodes is not designed in the same way as that of Geneva and is not as expensive either,” he argues.

“It is therefore obvious that the concept of reducing health premiums also varies from one canton to another. In canton Basel City, the cantonal subsidy increased by 43% and in Geneva by 165%. These are cantons with a particularly high average premium. This clearly shows that where the premium burden is particularly high, we act,” he notes.

Healthcare costs: should hospitals have to be economical? KEYSTONE/Gian Ehrenzeller

Healthcare costs: should Swiss hospitals clamp down on expenses? Join the discussion.

Many Swiss hospitals are making considerable losses, require millions in government aid and have to cut services.  Read up on the topic and have your say on the multilingual debate platform “dialogue”.