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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: qotd: Swiss support single payer
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 09:47:07 -0700
From: Don McCanne <don@mccanne.org>
To: Quote-of-the-Day <quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org>
Swiss Broadcasting Corporation
swissinfo.ch <http://swissinfo.ch>
June 24, 2013
Swiss voters back single-payer health insurance
The proposal of creating a single fund for health insurance would be
accepted by voters if the ballot for the initiative were held today,
according to a poll commissioned by the pharmaceutical lobby group
Interpharma.
About 65 per cent of the population would approve the proposal and 28
per cent would reject it, according to the first poll conducted on the
issue. The result is still not very conclusive, as only about 31 per
cent of people surveyed said they would actually participate in the vote.
In 2014 or 2015, the initiative for public health insurance will be put
to a nationwide vote, which if accepted will see current providers of
basic cover replaced by a single public fund. Under Swiss law, health
insurance is compulsory, and residents currently may choose between
offerings of about 60 companies which provide coverage.
The initiative – supported by the centre-left Social Democrats and by
the Greens as well as by patient and consumer organisations – would
leave only supplemental insurance in the hands of private companies.
The survey was conducted as part of the 2013 Health Monitor by GfS Bern
research and polling institute. The Health Monitor also showed that
three out of four people in Switzerland view the health system in
Switzerland positively, the highest share ever.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Swiss_voters_back_single-payer_health_insurance.html?cid=36250986
swissinfo.ch <http://swissinfo.ch>
April 19, 2013
According to the 2012 Health Monitor of the GfS Bern research and
polling institute, 40 per cent of those questioned were in favour of a
change, while 45 per cent preferred to stick with the current system.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Seeking_a_political_cure_for_rising_health_costs.html?cid=35544180
Comment: Whereas last year 40 percent of Swiss voters supported change
in the health insurance system, the same poll this year shows that 65
percent support a single fund for health insurance - single payer. It is
difficult to know if this support is malleable, and whether it would
hold up under the political rhetoric of campaigns. A similar measure in
2007 was rejected by 70 percent of their voters.
Nevertheless, it should make us challenge those who keep telling us that
we need a system just like the Swiss have - a mandate to purchase plans
from a market in which about 60 insurers participate. Clearly, though
they view their system positively, there is very strong support for a
single public health insurance program.
CMS's new website (https://www.healthcare.gov/) promotes the "Health
Insurance Marketplace." Sounds sort of like the Swiss system. If we're
going copy the Swiss, why don't we skip their mistakes and go directly
to single payer?
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