Expats place less of a burden on Swiss healthcare than citizens, study finds

A new analysis from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has revealed that expats place a significantly smaller burden on the healthcare system than Swiss citizens. The findings are a blow to the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which pushed for the study in the hope it would draw the opposite conclusion.

Swiss citizens cost more to treat than internationals

According to the report, health costs for foreigners in Switzerland are 28 percent lower than for Swiss nationals. Based on data from basic health insurance gathered between 2019 and 2022, internationals cost 2.569 francs per year to treat, compared to 3.554 francs for citizens.

The main reasons behind the difference are that a higher proportion of Swiss nationals are retired or in advanced age, which means their healthcare costs are generally higher. Despite this, however, FSO spokesperson Marc Moser noted that expats tend to be healthier across age groups. This is mainly because most expats who come to fill jobs in Switzerland are in good health when they move. 

Of the 193 nationalities analysed, only 30 groups were found to be more costly than the Swiss. Georgian citizens were the most expensive to treat at 6.267 francs a year, followed by Uruguayan (5.946 francs) and Guinea-Bissau (5.385 francs) nationals. 

Why are Georgians the most expensive patients in Swiss healthcare?

According to the Tages-Anzeiger, Georgians cost the most because Switzerland has developed a reputation in Georgia for excellent healthcare. Seriously ill Georgian nationals use the fact that they don’t need a visa to travel to the country, make an asylum claim (which in most cases will be rejected), then receive medical treatment in the meantime, as asylum claimants’ healthcare costs are covered. 

Though the Georgian and Swiss governments signed an agreement to clamp down on the trend in 2022, many seriously ill people continue to make the journey. For those interested, nationals from Malawi have the lowest healthcare costs in Switzerland, at just 593 francs a year.

SVP sticks to its guns despite the study's findings

The findings will make for awkward reading for the SVP, which pushed for the report in the hope it would find that expats place a significantly higher burden on Swiss healthcare. In 2024, a motion submitted by the party convinced Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (SP) to commission the study.

This move was part of attempts to build support for its migration-limiting No 10 Million Switzerland! referendum. In arguing for the report, the SVP argued that “excessive immigration” has “dramatic effects” on healthcare, a fact that “politicians prefer to keep quiet.” 

Speaking to the Tages-Anzeiger, SVP parliamentary group leader Thomas Aeschi argued that the FSO did not take age seriously enough in their analysis. He reiterated his party’s calls for illegal migrants and asylum seekers to be transferred to a “light medical insurance system” where only basic medical services are offered - for reference, parliament has rejected this idea several times.