sunday – rant day.
what should i complain about today?
besides my belly, that i have not been able to lose and bathing season is here.
or hair, that starts to grow everywhere i dont want it to [latest recruit: my back!] and stops growing where i do want it to [hair, grow on my head! silly!].
i know… i’ll complain about health insurance in switzerland.
tomorrow the long awaited zentrum paul klee will open its doors for the general public. i was looking forward to this, but reading das magazin yesterday kinda spoiled things for me. it appears that the very ambitious project was largely financed by medtech money, specifically by huge donations from one mr. müller, who has made his money selling artificial hip joints at outrageous profit margins. hence, the argument by niklaus ramseyer in das magazin goes, this money has been paid for at least in part by us, the swiss health insurance [and tax] payers. in switzerland medicial cost is shared in about equal parts by sick people themselves, by government subsidies [=tax payers] and by the monthly health insurance payments of “healthy” citizens.
sneakily, and while everybody was busy dissing the pharma industry for their over-priced product, the medtech industry has been shoveling huge amounts of money, billions, into their pockets. they are now “sharing the love” by “giving” us a museum or two and by sponsoring our bicycling and footie teams. [phonak yb]
meanwhile, about two weeks ago, federal councillor pascal couchpin [aka PC] has announced that alternative medicines like acupuncture and homeopathy will no longer be covered by health insurance. so wait, let me get this straight: health insurance keeps paying for over-priced pills and artificial hip joints, but the homeopathic globules for my asthmathic nephew are too expensive? in other words, heroic medicinal procedures when, in a sense, it’s too late are paid for, yet subtle and preventive measures get dropped?
wow. what a stragegy! a disaster in the making, if you ask me. what with the babyboomers approaching age of hip joint replacements.
the worst of it is that health insurance is mandatory in switzerland. so i can’t even boycot this and by paying my monthly health insurance [an outrageous amount of money] i am forced to support stupid political choices like these. i wonder how much longer the swiss are willing to accept this sort of thing…