[Culturechat] Hospital costs in CH

[Vance Roy]

My Swiss information source and friend, Herr Britschgi, taught me
something about how Swiss hospitals get paid today.

I had a bill from the hospital in Meiringen from Barbara's operation and
treatment for her broken ankle. The whole thing came to about 12,000
CHF, but on the bill there was a credit for 33% of that cost said to be
the "Kantonarztamt" (Kanton doctor's bureau) share.

Now, we live in Obwalden Kanton but got treated in Kanton Bern. When I
asked about this, Herr Britschgi called the health department here. It
seems that Obwalden and Bern do not have a reciprocal agreement about
treating each other's residents. Apparently Kanton Luzern and Kanton
Obwalden do have such an agreement. That did not mean that I was out of
luck. It seems that in Obwalden, a person's Kantonarztamt payment is
decided on a case by case basis. Since we are residents (read that have
visas and pay taxes here), the payment has been made.

In CH, there are three components to payment of a hospital charge. One,
the health insurance that you have. Two, a payment from the Federal
Government, which three, is combined with a payment from the Kanton. Had
we not been on the tax payer rolls, we would have received no payment
and I expect we would have gotten a hefty back tax bill or the boot from
the country for not having appropriate visas.

You learn something every day.


Vance Roy
gigli.saw@dplanet.ch.