Swiss gov't will pay smaller share of cost of incontinence
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Opticians in Switzerland are unusually busy this week, reports 24 Heures, but it’s not thanks to Christmas shoppers: this is the last chance to get reimbursed CHF180 towards your new eyeglasses or contact lenses by your health insurance company.
Starting 1 Janaury 2011, a series of health care cost-cutting measures for the basic obligatory health insurance will go into effect.
These include: hospital patients will contribute CHF15 instead of the current CHF10 a day for basic hospitalization, glycemia measuring devices for diabetes patients will be covered up to CHF43 a year instead of CHF135, and the coverage for incontinence pads and pants will be reduced by about one-third for the least and most severe cases and about 10 percent for average cases.
Adults currently can ask to be reimbursed once every five years up to CHF180 for glasses and contact lenses, and children annually, but this will end for all age groups in January.
Insurers will no longer have to reimburse part of cost of glasses, contact lenses
The reductions in coverage will save the federal government CHF40 million a year in obligatory insurance payments, says Bern, about 10 percent of its expenditures in this area. The government covers some obligatory health insurance costs for people receiving disability insurance, social assistance or unemployment benefits. The change will, however, also affect consumers who pay their own health insurance premiums and costs, effectively passing the bill from the insurer to the consumer. Insurance premiums, which have been rising for several years, will go up again for most Swiss in 2011.
The government is, however, increasing coverage in two areas: girls and young women currently have human
papillomavirus vaccinations coverd if they are carried out as part of a cantonal vaccination programme, up to age 20. This will be extended up to age 26, until the end of 2012. Obligatory health insurance will also cover some stomach reduction surgeries in cases of morbid obesity with BMI (body mass index) over 35 (previously 40), if the person has followed a weight-loss programme for two years without losing weight.
Swiss health insurance FAQ, English, published by the federal government June 2010
Table: Swiss Federal Office of Health, 2008 statistical review, mandatory insurance system – total health care costs of some OECD countries, as a percentage of GDP (gross domestic product)
Update 21:20 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The proverbial sweet tooth could soon be replaced by sweet wheels in Switzerland, the kind that roll along sugar-covered highways. Authorities in canton Bern have confirmed that they have been using a liquid sugar-based product instead of salt on the A6 autoroute between Rubigen and Spiez, in a two-year test programme that is going well, canton Bern roads supervisor Martin Roesti told GenevaLunch.
The product being used is made by a British company, Safecote, and is manufactured in Italy. Parts of the US, Canada, Norway and Iceland use the liquid sugar on their roads. Switzerland is testing it, says Roesti, because at lower temperatures it is more effective than salt chloride. It is also less aggressive and doesn’t lead to potholes the way salt does.
India’s consumers have the world’s biggest sweet tooth, and are struggling with rising prices for sugar and a dramatic drop in domestic production. For 60 million Indians, sugary milky tea is the main source of carbohydrates. Poor rains in June in India and excess rains in Brazil contributed to the world sugar shortfall, estimated at nine million tonnes, in 2009. It is the second year running that demand outstrips supply. Domestic production in India dropped 43 percent to 15 million tonnes, reports Bloomberg.
The price of refined, white sugar increased four percent in trading 10 September on speculation that India, Indonesia and Pakistan were to import more sugar. The world price of sugar almost doubled in 2009. BBC, Bloomberg, Economic Times, India
