19/10/2006 - Switzerland’s health system meets the important goals of good health outcomes and universal health coverage, but these successes come at a high financial cost. The OECD and the WHO, in a new report on the Swiss health system
19/10/2006 - Switzerland’s health system meets the important goals of good health outcomes and universal health coverage, but these successes come at a high financial cost. The OECD and the WHO, in a new report on the Swiss health system, praise the quality of the system and make recommendations to control its high spending.
The Swiss healthcare system compares well with other OECD countries. It has universal health-insurance coverage, permitting access to a broad range of modern medical services, and patients are largely satisfied with the health care they receive. However, spending on health as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the second highest (after the U.S.) in the OECD area, while other OECD countries perform equally well, or even better, at lower cost.
Switzerland spent 11.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health in 2003, against the OECD average of 8.8%. The cost has been increasing steadily in Switzerland, rising by 2.4% of GDP between 1990 and 2004, above the OECD average increase of 1.5%. These high levels of health spending, compared with other OECD countries, reflect both the generous supply and the high prices of the services provided.
Ageing populations, coupled with new healthcare technologies, suggest that health spending will continue to rise, creating concerns about the financial sustainability of the system. “Switzerland will have to develop more cost-effective policies if it wants to better control health expenditure in the future” said John Martin, Director of the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Directorate, OECD.
While overall health expenditures are high, Switzerland devotes only 2.2% of its health spending to disease prevention and health promotion compared with an average of 2.7% for all OECD countries. “Investing in prevention and health promotion programmes would help Swiss health authorities focus on important public health issues such as tobacco and alcohol consumption and on areas in need of 