Swiss healthcare is typically ranked the world’s second most expensive, as a percentage of GDP, after the US.
In Switzerland, compulsory health insurance premiums cover 37% of healthcare costs. Much of the rest is covered by tax payers and non-reimbursable out-of-pocket payments by individuals.
As part of a plan to reduce costs, this week, the health insurer Groupe Mutuel, launched a new lower cost plan which requires its clients to go to the pharmacy for help before calling their doctor or a medical specialist, according to Le Matin Dimanche and reported in Le Temps.
Patients on the plan are required to go a designated pharmacy before going to a doctor. A pharmacist decides whether a doctor’s appointment is required. Pharmacists do not charge for consultations, reducing costs.
Certain things, such as emergency treatment, gynecology, pediatrics and chronic conditions are exempted.
The system, which was tested between 2012 and 2014, found that 73% of cases could be dealt with by the pharmacist.
Pharmacies welcome the shift because it has the potential to boost their sales. Many doctors are supportive too because they have more patient demand than they can cope with.
A recent law increasing the number of drugs that can be obtained from pharmacies without a prescription from a doctor, which came into force on 1 January 2019, is one element supporting this new model.
More on this:
Le Temps article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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Adrian says
Can the pharmacist diognosyst
the sickness if a patient goes to the pharmacy? We mostly see amateur or the training pharmacist at ythe counters. Each pharmacy would have to have a consultation room. What responsibility will the pharmacist take to assure the patient that his or her diognosyst is accurate!?
Hashim says
This is a bad legislation. Pharmacists are neither trained to diagnose nor prescribe medications. They have no authority to order labs or investigations. Even if they got it, they will not be able to understand it. It’s a shame how greed for money can leave people with no proper medical coverage. For your information, a cancer that could be detected easily by a physician can be neglected and masked by pain killers for years for the patient to realize that he/she are at end stage when symptoms are no longer managable by the low cost pharmacist. Enjoy your bloody earnings!