2022: announced premiums and what inflation does not measure

A 2022 announcement for 2023 spending

The date matters: September’s statement concerned the following year. It announced an average monthly premium of CHF 334.70, up 6.6%. This was not every adult’s insurance price. It combined different ages and insurance choices; individual and cantonal changes can diverge.

The figure describes an overall movement, not a replacement for each person’s notice. Premiums, deductibles and cost-sharing also differ. The premium is a regular payment for coverage; the others concern a share of treatment expenditure under applicable rules. A lower premium therefore does not automatically mean lower total spending when care is needed.

Debate about living costs extended beyond health. The social question was how much remained when several difficult-to-reduce expenses changed. One indicator could be useful without being sufficient.

Why premiums are not consumer prices

The Federal Statistical Office’s 2022 methodological publication explains the consumer price index. CPI measures prices of goods and services, not every change in compulsory expenditure. Mandatory health premiums are treated as transfers to social insurance. Their movement also depends on the volume and nature of care financed, not only the price of an unchanged service.

Health is therefore not absent from CPI. Prices of health services and products are included. Adding premiums in full as another price category would raise definition and counting problems. The health-insurance premium index complements assessment of their impact on disposable income.

This statistical distinction does not minimise a real difficulty. Spending can reduce a budget without being the object measured by a price index. Different questions require complementary tools, rather than blaming an indicator for not measuring what it was not designed to measure.

Do not simply add percentages

Premium increases and general inflation have different bases. Adding their rates does not automatically give a household’s purchasing-power loss. The premium amount, affected consumer spending and income changes are needed. Assistance actually received can alter the result again.

Without inventing a representative family, the approach is to compare resources after deductions and assistance with necessary spending before and after changes. Household composition, housing and coverage matter. The same additional francs occupy more space in a small income.

The opposite inference is also wrong: a wage increase matching CPI does not necessarily preserve all disposable income. It compensates a price measure, not automatically a higher compulsory transfer or changed family situation. Wage and social policy need to name these differences.

Reserves cushion costs but do not replace lasting revenue

The federal statement connected the announced rise to costs and pandemic effects. Recurring expenses, catch-up effects and forecasts need separating. Premiums are fixed before all expenditure they must finance is known exactly. Supervision should examine assumptions and deviations, not only endorse a final comparison.

The FOPH’s report on 2022 also describes reserve supervision and conditional reserve-reduction instruments. A reserve can cushion a charge temporarily. It is not an infinite source for recurring care. An accumulated stock and annual financing needs are separate questions.

Cost control should not be confused with shifting costs to patients or staff. Reducing reimbursement without reducing need can move the bill. Cutting a team may create work elsewhere. Savings should be assessed alongside access, continuity and care conditions.

The outcome is a budget people can live on

For the PCP, 2022 calls for following net burdens after premium reductions actually received and ensuring assistance arrives as expenditure rises. An announced benefit is insufficient if access is difficult or payment late. Cantonal rules and income circumstances belong in the assessment.

Transparency requires understandable definitions: which average, for which year and with what limitations? It connects indicators without artificially merging them. The objective is real protection of disposable income and access to care, not a single figure claiming to represent every experience.