Health: BUND saves in the event of prevention

The federal government plans to save just over a million francs in prevention and health promotion from 2026. This is a mistake.

The federal administration will not be able to avoid saving next year: from 2026, two positions in the area of ​​prevention will therefore be lost in the Federal Office of Health. This causes criticism. Because the two employees developed a program that should encourage people to move more.

At first glance, this seems strange: Is it really the responsibility of the state to prescribe a healthy life to the citizens? No it’s not. And it would be easy to dismiss the project as attacking. Only this health argument falls short: the challenges are extraordinary. Cases of avoidable common diseases increase, health costs are increasing and the number of doctors becomes scarce.

Research has long known: that every franc that is invested in prevention measures can prevent multiple costs. And yet politics has been struggling with health promotion programs for years – also because health is considered a private matter.

And it is also true, everyone can actively contribute to their well -being. This does not require a authority that constantly reminds us that unhealthy nutrition and, above all, lack of movement increase the risk of disease such as diabetes, cardiovascular problems or even cancer. Most people know this themselves.

However, the health question is not entirely private: because these common diseases make up eighty percent of the health costs financed by solidarity. It is irrelevant whether someone lives healthy or excessively, the health insurance premiums are the same for everyone.

It is worthwhile to detach yourself from the negative cost spiral and to postpone the focus to prevention measures. Because the view is real that half of the population will soon be overweight and sooner or later has to claim medical help. Of course, we can decide to make life easier for those affected through diabetes medications such as fat path injections or her on-scale injections. But we can also take new ways – and use movement as targeted therapy.

Swiss healthcare is small enough: there is a lot of space for experiments. We should dare.