Would your household benefit from reductions if the initiative to cap health premiums at 10% of income was accepted on June 9? Evaluate your situation with our calculator.
“The premiums payable by policyholders amount to a maximum of 10% of disposable income.” A priori precise, the text of the PS initiative in reality leaves a great deal of room for maneuver to Parliament.
If accepted on June 9, federal elected officials will have to decide how to define “disposable income” and choose the determining bonus to calculate the reduction. The impact of the initiative, as well as its cost, will depend on these choices.
For our tool, we have chosen two scenarios. The first calculates the reduction based on the standard premium (deductible of 300 francs, with accident cover and free choice of doctor). The second uses the average premium actually paid by policyholders, which remains significantly lower.
For disposable income, we relied on the definition used by the Confederation to assess the costs of the initiative (full methodology at the end of the article).
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Very different results depending on the scenarios
Let’s take a family from Friborg, with two children, who earns 150,000 francs per year. Their situation appears very different depending on the alternative chosen.
In the first case, she could obtain a reduction of 187 francs per month, almost 2250 francs per year. On the other hand, in the second scenario, the family would receive nothing. His premiums would reach 9.1% of his disposable income.
Up to what salary could one benefit from subsidies? The ceiling would strongly depend on the choices of Parliament, as shown in our graph below.
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The French-speaking people are the first beneficiaries
The impact of the initiative would also vary greatly from one region to another. For example, a family with a child earning 150,000 francs per year in Geneva would already exceed the ceiling of 10% of disposable income in the second scenario. She would thus obtain a reduction of a few hundred francs per year and would no longer see her bill increase in the future.
The same family in Uri would be very far from receiving subsidies. His premiums would reach 6.1% of his earnings, as these remain much cheaper in Uri than in Geneva.
The initiative would primarily benefit the middle class in the cantons with the highest premiums in the country, that is to say the people of Ticino, the people of Basel and most of the French-speaking people, whatever the definitions adopted by Parliament.
Increasingly significant reductions and costs
The figures presented here are based on this year’s health premiums. As these increase faster than wages, households close to the 10% limit would probably reach it after a few years. More and more people would benefit from discounts over time.
This worries opponents of the project. According to the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP), which uses the standard premium in its estimate (first scenario), the implementation of the text would cost between 3.5 and 5 billion francs per year to the Confederation and the cantons . Its financing, still uncertain, could lead to an increase in taxes or VAT. A bill that would increase each year, as long as the increase in premiums continues.
>> Read also: Right-wing committee warns of potential danger of popular health initiatives
Valentine Fall
Topic covered in the Morning of May 7
