Media: Swiss medical services done abroad are billed at Swiss rates

In Switzerland, medical services carried out abroad are billed at Swiss rates, despite costing less due to being outsourced, public broadcaster RTS reports. In principle, such services should not even be covered by the Swiss system of mandatory health insurance. But the law could be set to change, RTS writes. Two cases of such outsourcing have been flagged by Swiss media in the space of a week. The first concerns the private Hirslanden group, which operates 17 hospitals across the country. Medical images done in the group’s clinics, such as MRIs, X-rays and other scans are sent abroad to be analysed – in France, Germany and Hungary – at a lower cost. However, they are billed at Swiss rates. Meanwhile, Medgate, the main player in the Swiss telemedicine sector, was also singled out by newspapers in the CH-Media group: they reported that some of the group’s doctors are employed in Germany and Spain, and soon in France and Italy. Contacted by RTS, the Federal Office of Public Health ...