The emergency room tax is getting closer to becoming reality; Switzerland will raise its investments in the US to get on Trump’s good side; and more news in our Monday roundup.
‘Emergency room tax’ gets a boost in the National Council
Anyone who goes to a hospital emergency room for a minor ailment will have to pay a fee in future.
The National Council’s Social Affairs and Health Committee (SGK-N) voted in favour of the longstanding bill to introduce a ‘tax’ for minor cases in hospital emergency rooms.
That is quite a turnaround because the idea was almost unanimously rejected in the consultation process.
However, the SGK-N is sticking to the initial proposal, which seeks to charge patients who show up in the hospital with minor symptoms without a doctor’s referrals to pay 50 francs — out of their own pockets, as health insurance wouldn’t pay for it.
The Council of States will weigh in on the proposal next.
READ ALSO: Switzerland’s 50-franc fee for emergency hospital visits moves step closer
To appease Trump, Switzerland will step up its investments in the US
In a joint effort, the government and economic circles are reportedly putting together a huge investment package for the United States to the tune of 150 billion francs — much more than the current direct investment of 307 billion USD (257 billion francs) — to keep Donald Trump from imposing hefty tariffs on Swiss exports.
According to media reports, the Federal Department of Economy is working with Swiss companies to come up with trade deal that the head of the Swiss Economic and Social Council, Helene Budliger Artieda, can present in Washington.
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Geneva is the wealthiest canton in Switzerland
With a surplus of 541 million francs in 2024, Geneva’s economy performed better than traditional champions, Zug, Zurich, and Basel-City.
In fact, based on this financial windfall, Geneva will become the largest contributor to the financial equalisation in 2028, expected to pay 602 million francs to poorer cantons that year.
Under Switzerland’s solidarity system of ‘financial equalisation’, wealthy regions pay a certain amount of money to their poorer cousins.
The system’s goal is to eliminate, or at least reduce, the income disparity between populations of various cantons.
The ‘recipient’ cantons use this money for public-funded programmes such as works on hospitals, schools or roads.
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At last, Swiss court saves holes on Emmentaler cheese
The tell-tale holes on the Emmentaler cheese — so called because it is produced in the Emmental valley in the Bernese Oberland — have been shrinking for years.
The regulation holes, according to the Emmentaler Switzerland association, must be ‘cherry-sized’ — that is, between 2 cm and 4 cm in diameter.
However, due to modernisaton of cheesemaking techniques, as well as stricter hygiene standards, the holes have become smaller, making the cheese more prone to fissures.
The producers have been wanting to add hay dust (fine particles from hay) to the manufacturing process to keep the holes from shrinking, but met with the opposition from the Federal Agriculture Office.
The dispute ended up in the Federal Administrative Court which has just ruled in favour of bigger holes — meaning that the Emmentaler will remain as holy as ever.
READ ALSO: Swiss court to rule whether holes in Emmental cheese are too small
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