The rising cost of Switzerland’s compulsory health insurance is a major political issue. The government has hatched a plan aimed at improving incentives in the hope it will reduce the seemingly never ending rise in health insurance premiums. However, a number of people sceptical of the plan’s ability to deliver the saving have organised a vote against it, which takes place this weekend.

Over recent weeks, mercury found in the tinned tuna sold across Europe has sparked a debate about the product. This week, RTS revealed the mercury levels of much of the tinned tuna sold in Switzerland.

This week, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, Switzerland’s Health Minister, announced health insurance premiums will rise by an average of 6% in 2025 to CHF 378.70 a month. However, the range of the increase varies from 1.5% to 10.5% depending on the canton of residence.

Married couples in Switzerland are taxed together, unlike unmarried couples who are taxed individually. This often acts as a tax disincentive for one spouse to work, disproportionately affecting women.

At the end of September 2023, driving was banned on a 60 metre section of Langstrasse in Zurich. To enforce the ban, cameras were later set up on 8 January 2024 to catch and fine errant drivers. Since then 17,310 fines have been issued.

The federal government spent less in 2023 than budgeted but overestimated revenue. The net effect was an additional shortfall of CHF 1.4 billion, reported SRF.

With the ever rising cost of of Swiss healthcare, the government has been hunting for savings. This week it announced that it has ordered price cuts on 350 medicines from 1 December 2023, reported RTS.

Consumer prices increased by 0.1% in October 2023, reported Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) this week.

Last weekend, the PLR/FDP unveiled a plan to create a budget low cost health insurance option in Switzerland, reported RTS.

This week, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) published its predictions and ambitions for electric transport infrastructure.

Vehicles imported into Switzerland are subject to a 4% tax, with the exception of electric vehicles that attract none. This week, the government decided to end the exception from the beginning of next year.

Like many governments across the world, Switzerland’s federal government is spending more than it collects. Extraordinary spending on Covid and refugees has pushed Switzerland’s finances into the red, a situation Karin Keller-Sutter, the current finance minister, hopes to eliminate by 2024.

Swiss resident’s are regularly reminded of the large financial gap is Switzerland’s state pension system. Despite this, several attempts at reform have failed to gain sufficient support. Those that have still leave a large shortfall. On 24 January 2023, UBS published four additional reform scenarios. Only the fourth, with a life expectancy adjusted retirement age of 68.2 years eliminates the current projected shortfall.

At a meeting in Bern on 19 January 2023, Werner Luginbühl, the head of Elcom, Switzerland’s electricity regulator, called on the sector to be careful to manage consumer expectations, reported RTS.

A sharp rise in rent in December 2022 (+1.1%) left the average Swiss rent 4.3% higher than at the beginning of 2022, according to the Swiss Real Estate Offer Index, published on 4 January 2023 by SMG Swiss Marketplace Group. This annual jump of 4.3% exceeds the annual CPI increase of 2.8% announced this week.

A federal initiative aimed at subsidising health insurance premiums once they exceed 10% of disposable income met with resistance in Bern this week, reported RTS.

Every three months the rate of interest used to set the rents in Switzerland is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. If it goes up landlords can push up rents. This time the rate remained at 1.25%, however it looks set to rise next year.

On 2 December 2022, Switzerland’s Federal Council agreed to boost the salaries of those working for the federal government by 2.5% in 2023.

Close to half of renters is Switzerland could face significant increases in rent, estimates Zürich Kantonalbank (ZKB), with rents potentially rising as much as 15% over the next five years, reported the newspaper Blick.

On 16 November 2022, Switzerland’s federal government announced the sums that will be transferred between the nation’s statelets or cantons in 2023, a mechanism aimed at ensuring wealthy cantons support those with weaker economies.

Switzerland’s recent vote on state pension reform on 25 September 2022, divided men and women, reported RTS.

After construction workers went out on strike for two days in French-speaking Switzerland, construction workers protested in Zurich over hours and pay on 11 November 2022, reported RTS.

Photo by Rodolfo Quirós on Pexels.comWith inflation in Switzerland running at 3%, construction workers are demanding higher pay. However, the construction industry has responded with an offer of better pay tied to higher maximum hours. The industry would like maximum weekly hours to rise to 58 and the maximum number of daily hours to 12. Employers are also asking for changes that would make it easier to layoff older workers. The industry is asking for these concessions in return for a pay increase.

Workers are unhappy with higher maximum hours and argue they should get a pay increase to compensate

According to the bank Raiffeisen, a future rental housing crisis is likely in Switzerland as the home vacancy rate moves below 1% in 2024, reported 20 Minutes.

For the seventh consecutive year, the price of tickets on Swiss public transport will remain unchanged. It will also become easier to buy tickets for bicycles and canine companions, reported RTS.

In Switzerland, it pays not to be married. Married couples pay higher taxes and receive lower state pensions than unmarried couples. Two referenda were launched this week to change this, reported RTS.

The Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) argued this week that the CHF 6 billion spent on state employees should be cut, reported 20 Minutes.

On 12 October 2022, Switzerland’s Federal Council announced an increase in state pensions from 1 January 2023 by 2.5%.

In September 2022, Switzerland’s consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.2% compared with the previous month, according to data from Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO).