KPT boss speaks plainly "Half the hospitals and six to eight health insurers are enough"
Thomas Harnischberg wants to close half of the hospitals. The head of the Bern-based health insurer KPT sees an even greater need for reform among insurers. But a one-size-fits-all health insurance fund would not work.
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- Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider presented the new health insurance premiums on Thursday: They will rise by an average of six percent in 2025.
- In an interview, Thomas Harnischberg, head of the Bern-based health insurer KPT, advocates closing half of all hospitals in Switzerland and describes this as potential for optimization.
- Harnischberg sees an even greater need for reform among insurers. Switzerland does not need 40 health insurance companies, six to eight would be enough.
Following the announcement of rising health insurance premiums next year, Thomas Harnischberg, head of the Bern-based health insurer KPT, has spoken out in favour of closing half of all hospitals in Switzerland, describing this as potential for optimization. "Why do I have to drive past 15 hospitals on my journey from Zurich to Bern? Denmark manages with a total of 20 clinics, we have almost 300 hospitals. That's madness. Not every valley needs a hospital," said Harnischberg in an interview with Tamedia. Half of the hospitals would be enough.
Harnischberg sees an even greater need for reform among insurers. Switzerland does not need 40 health insurance companies. "It doesn't need more than six to eight health insurance companies. That is my counter-model to a single health insurance fund. We urgently need competition," added Harnischberg. He is one of the driving forces behind the merger of the health insurance funds into a new association.
The market will decide which insurers survive. It is already doing so, said the KPT boss: "The number of health insurance companies has already fallen sharply. And will continue to fall." If only six to eight insurers remained, Harnischberg would consider merging KPT with other insurers. At its current size, it would be difficult for the insurer to survive with only around half a million basic insurance policyholders. "If six to eight insurers remained, we would need one to one and a half million insured persons," says Harnischberg, who has been head of KPT since 2022.