Troubled Swiss health insurance reform

Attempts at reforming Switzerland's sickness insurance system - known as the "LAMal," the acronym for the legislation under which compulsory  health care insurance was introduced in 1996, have led to deteriorating  relations between the Interpharma, which represents Swiss  research-based drugmakers, and the Santesuisse, the federal  coordinating body for the cantons' insurance coverage.

Faced with budgetary problems, and with 4,000 doctors taking to the  streets over cuts, the Santesuisse supports an emergency plan to save  360.0 million Swiss francs ($312.4 million) from the drugs bill,  mostly by adding France, Austria and Italy to the reference countries  used for price controls.