SWICA is launching its own podcast

SWICA Talks is a new podcast that gives internal and external guests a platform for debating current social, medical and political topics revolving around the Swiss healthcare system.

Summer, beach and sunburn: ready for the holidays

If you're planning to travel, you need to start thinking well in advance about medicines, your first aid kit and any vaccinations you may need. Am I allowed to fly with crutches and how will I deal with heatstroke, animal bites or ear infections while on holiday? Silke Schmitt Oggier, Medical Director at santé24 and Daniel Kreyenbühl, pharmacist at santé24, provide some practical tips for carefree holidays.

Deafness: when hands become mouths and eyes become ears

Almost 1.3 million people in Switzerland have severe hearing loss, and up to 30'000 have been deaf since birth. Their first language is sign language, but this lacks legal recognition. In the latest episode of SWICA Talks, we chat to Fernanda Hintz and Ben Jud from the Swiss Federation of the Deaf (Schweizerische Gehörlosenbund (SGB-FSS)) about how deaf people cope with day-to-day challenges in a world designed for hearing people and the topics they are passionate about (video in German).

More episodes

We all want to live longer, and more and more of us now do. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, a specialist in general internal medicine with a focus on geriatrics, and Erich Scheibli, care manager for private customers at SWICA, discuss how to age healthily and how this is changing our lives.

The festive season can take its toll on your gut and your sense of wellbeing: As the year draws to a close, Alice Baldinger, psychologist, Kim Zwygart, exercise specialist, and Ellen Weber, nutritionist at santé24 discuss simple tips and tricks to help us eat more healthily, get enough exercise and look after ourselves during this period.

In many occupations, the boundaries between work and leisure time are becoming increasingly blurred. Are more flexible working hours the answer, or can they add to stress and burnout? In the latest episode of SWICA Talks, Jennifer Heise, a specialist in occupational health and safety at the Swico association, and Lars Stiffler, Head of Care Management – Corporate Clients at SWICA, discuss mental health in the workplace and the importance of being alert to this issue.

In Switzerland, the way in which healthcare costs are split currently depends on whether the treatment is provided as an inpatient or outpatient service. The EFAS (uniform financing of inpatient and outpatient treatment) reform is designed to make this a thing of the past: under the proposal, funding for all health insurance services – whether inpatient, outpatient or in the care sector – will be split in the same way between the cantons and the insurers. In the latest episode of SWICA Talks, VPOD Secretary General Natascha Wey and Daniel Rochat, Head of the Department of Benefits & Medicine, discuss the pros and cons of uniform financing of inpatient and outpatient treatment (EFAS).

With an average of twelve hospitals per canton, Switzerland has a far greater density of hospitals than other countries. Many of them are struggling financially. National Council member and certified nurse Patrick Hässig (Green Liberal Party) hopes his motion will ensure that hospital planning is carried out jointly by central government and the cantons. In the fifth episode of SWICA Talks, he discusses the challenges, difficulties and opportunities arising in a decentralised federalist country with Kathrin Huber, General Secretary of the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Ministers of Public Health (GDK).

Summer, sun, sand and sea – and suddenly you have a medical emergency. What now? Marlen Krakowitzer, Deputy Head of Medical Assistance at the Medicall emergency call centre and Dr Nadine Nieuwkamp, Head of Flight Physicians at Rega, give us an insight into their typical work day in the fourth episode of our podcast series.

What are the long-term effects of Covid-19? In the third podcast of the series, we talk to Silke Schmitt Oggier, Medical Director at santé24, and SWICA customer Maya Henzi about the illness and its consequences. We also consider whether our society is taking the problem seriously enough and providing the necessary support.

Why is it so difficult to pursue a constructive, reform-oriented health policy? In the first episode, Chairman of the Board of Directors Carlo Conti and former National Councillor and health policy expert Ruth Humbel take a look at the past and present situation.

What do younger generations expect from the Swiss health system? Is digitalisation a magic bullet, or will we still primarily need people to take care of our health in the future? In the second episode, CEO Reto Dahinden and Co-President of the Young Swiss Green Liberals Party Maya Tharian discuss the future.