As someone who has had 34 years of experience with the Swiss health-care system, I can say:

- it's really pretty good in general. Access to diagnostics (waiting times, quality of the available equipment etc.) and treatment is second to no other country I've ever been to

That said:

- it sure ain't cheap.
- You've got to stick to the rules. Hospitals and specialists tend to treat you like an idiot if you don't follow the "chain of command". The chain of command being: unless you're bleeding to death, you need to see a GP first. Without a referral from a GP, hospitals and specialists don't take you seriously.

I think this system is rather stupid and constitutes a major factor in how expensive the HC system is here (because GPs might hesitate to refer you to a hospital and might treat you for weeks without first having used the modern diagnostic tools the hospitals offer - mainly because the insurance companies pressure them not to prescribe more expensive diagnostics). I've been there myself - I had a phlebitis in my right leg after I had overdone it with sports a couple of years ago. The GP treated me for a full 3 weeks - cost me 1050 Fr. for countless consultations. In the end, he sent me to the hospital for an MRI - cost 450 Fr. After that, I got a Heparin paste and the thing was gone in 3 days.

However, GPs tend to have more experience than the assistant doctors at the hospitals who are generally in charge of the walk-in patients. You'll hardly ever see a senior staff member if you go to the ER.

While medicine is a rapidly advancing field with a lot of smart people in it, in reality there is still a lot more we don't know than what we do know. Doctors are not robots and unfortunately it's not economical to deliver everyone all the care they require. Any hospital is going to have misdiagnoses, but the reality is that it is less likely to happen here than most countries.

That doesn't mean anyone's negative experience could not or should not have been better, only that we have to try to see all sides of an experience even if we don't want to.

Are you serious ? Is there anyone that doesn't know when they have this ?

Go Private its great