The Swiss Way of Health

[Chris]

An article on how the Swiss deal with healt care costs: The Swiss Way of Health:

...Key to the functioning of the Swiss health care system, however, are the cultural and social factors that are at the basis of its foundation, rather than the system being imposed “from the top down” by political whim or trend. Self-reliance is actively encouraged. Abuse of the system and the welfare-dependency of immigrants/asylum seekers are almost non-existent. Corruption (hospitals, insurers, "big pharma") appears to be relatively minor. All of this is critical to the efficiency of the system. Going point-by-point:

First, Switzerland is not a welfare society. The “poor” in Switzerland are not an urban poor. It is not a country of food stamps or people living on the streets or under bridges....

Secondly, individual responsibility and family responsibility are “national” priorities: State assistance is required to be paid back once the individual or family is back on its feet. Furthermore, a Civil Obligations Code requires that families take care of those members who cannot take care of themselves (parents, children, grandparents and grandchildren) and authorities can request family members to cover all or a part of social welfare payments and health care payments....

Third, Switzerland discourages dependency. The federal government takes care of asylum seekers across the board (shelter, basic health services), but only temporarily and for usually up to three months. Swiss migration law allows only for the immigration of highly skilled labor....

Fourth, Switzerland is mainly a self-governing society of rich bankers, rich engineers and rich farmers with high educational standards within a largely homogenous society. The country ranked No.1 on the 2017 Global Competitiveness Index....

Fifth, health care fraud in Switzerland is relatively low. In general, Switzerland is not a country where public-private corruption is rife, despite all the hoopla about secrecy. As of July 2016, private sector bribery was codified in the Swiss Criminal Code and Switzerland is one of the least corrupt countries in the world, ranking fifth in the Transparency International Rankings for 2016....

In all, the system works with a great degree of efficiency, perhaps best summarized by Swiss doctor Thomas Zeltner, M.D., the former Swiss secretary of health between January 1991 and December 2009. As Zeltner stated in an interview with an American health journal a couple of years back: “We [Swiss]will not let people suffer and die when they need health care. The Swiss believe that, in return, individuals owe it to society to make provision ahead of time for their health care when they fall seriously ill. At that point, they may not have enough money to pay for it. So, we consider the health insurance mandate to be a form of socially responsible civic conduct. In Switzerland, “individual freedom” does not mean that you should be free to live irresponsibly and freeload from others, as you would put it.”

[Helena]

I disagree with the Civil Obligations Code, unless it allows exemptions for estrangement.

[Chris]

I disagree with the Civil Obligations Code, unless it allows exemptions for estrangement.

Yea, I don't agree with all of it but the cultural expectation of self-reliance is refreshing.

[The Sage of Main Street]

An article on how the Swiss deal with health care costs: The Swiss Way of Health:

New-Age Sewage Blocking the Highway

We need to change the American character back to when it was mostly self-reliant. That has been our natural path ever since Plymouth Rock. The past decades have been an aberration that will someday be despised and distanced from, along with those who had the power to set us off-course.