Healthcare in Switzerland

Since 1994, all Swiss residents are required by federal law to purchase basic health insurance,[7] which covers a range of treatments detailed in the Swiss Federal Law on Health Insurance (German: Krankenversicherungsgesetz (KVG); French: la loi fédérale sur l’assurance-maladie (LAMal); Italian: legge federale sull’assicurazione malattie (LAMal)).

Requests for exemptions are handled by the respective cantonal authority and have to be addressed to them directly.

This can include complementary medicine, routine dental treatments, half-private or private ward hospitalisation, and others, which are not covered by the compulsory insurance.

The Swiss healthcare system is a combination of public, subsidised private and totally private systems: The insured person has full freedom of choice among the recognised healthcare providers competent to treat their condition (in their region) on the understanding that the costs are covered by the insurance up to the level of the official tariff.

Before the discussions about a nationwide implementation, electronic health records were widely used in both private and public healthcare organizations.

[11] In 2007, the Swiss Federal Government approved a national strategy for adoption of e-health.

[15] According to official statistics in 2021, 19,532 hospitalisations were due to mental health illness and 19,243 for physical injuries.

[16] Healthcare costs in Switzerland are 11.4% of GDP (2010), comparable to Germany and France (11.6%) and other European countries, but significantly less than in the USA (17.6%).

[20] In the 2018 Euro health consumer index survey Switzerland was placed first overtaking the Netherlands, and described as an excellent, although expensive, healthcare system.

"This figure is surprisingly high compared to other European countries" according to Swiss sources.