Access to healthcare in Geneva increasingly undermined by costs
In fourteen years, the proportion of the population who forego healthcare for financial reasons has risen from 16% to almost 26%. Long concentrated among the most vulnerable, this phenomenon is now also affecting middle- and high-income households. This is a worrying development, closely linked to the continuing rise in health insurance premiums, and has major consequences for public health.
Find out all the results in our article.
For over 20 years, the Bus Santé study has been tracking access to healthcare in Geneva, and in particular the number of people who forego treatment for financial reasons. Against a backdrop of steadily rising health insurance premiums and recurrent media attention on the subject, we would like to share the most recent results.
The data show a marked increase in people giving up healthcare for financial reasons. In 2011, 15.8% of the population said they had refused care. By 2025, this proportion will have risen to 25.8%, an increase of almost two-thirds. This trend is very much in line with the increase in health insurance premiums, which have risen by 61.9% over the same period.
Not seeking healthcare primarily affects the most vulnerable people: those on low incomes (with a risk approximately 2.5 times higher), women, young adults, single-parent families, people in poor health and smokers. But this phenomenon is no longer confined to these groups. It now also affects middle- and high-income households, where the proportion of people giving up care has more than tripled between 2011 and 2025, rising from 4.1% to 14.3%. Access to healthcare is thus becoming an issue that concerns a large proportion of the population.
The consequences for health and the healthcare system are significant. Failing to seek medical advice or treatment can lead to illnesses being diagnosed later, avoidable complications and, ultimately, more costly and burdensome treatment.
To read the full article and discover more results, visit: https: //www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2025.1609027/full
