Panic in the health system: medical emergency centers risk bankruptcy

Published on November 27, 2024 at 09:44. / Modified on November 27, 2024 at 09:48.

  • The hotlines can no longer charge emergency taxes following a decision by the Federal Court.

  • Health insurance companies have stopped paying these bills and are asking the clinics for reimbursement over five years.

  • Faced with this situation, pediatricians in Geneva decided to strike in emergency departments.

Medical hotlines are in imminent danger of death. In question? Two judgments from the Federal Court from June concerning emergency taxes billed to patients during urgent consultations (you can read these case laws here and here). Going unnoticed, these decisions could have dramatic consequences. After a long legal battle, 25 insurers – out of the 44 in Switzerland – won their case and are now ordering the medical practices and centers concerned across the country to stop billing these compensations of around forty francs.

In many letters that Time was able to obtain, certain insurance companies also require a retrocession of the amounts collected over the last five years. Helsana thus demanded the reimbursement of more than 327,000 francs from an emergency center in French-speaking Switzerland. Invoice to be multiplied with the number of insurers involved and medical centers and practices offering medical emergencies in Switzerland. Several million francs are at stake! Millions which will not be returned to patients who paid these taxes, but which will increase the fund’s reserves, as we reveal.

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