Switzerland's minister in charge of social and health matters visiting Finland
Minister of Social Affairs and Health Laura Räty as well as Minister of Health and Social Services Susanna Huovinen are today meeting Swiss Federal Councillor, minister Alain Berset, who is visiting Finland. As the head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (the Swiss interior ministry), Mr Berset is in charge of the federation's social affairs and health.
The ministers will discuss, among other things, the social welfare and health care reform, the participation of senior citizens in the labour market, persons with partial work ability in working life, and the pricing of pharmaceuticals.
Switzerland is renewing its pricing system for medicines. Finland has been proposed as a reference country. International price comparisons are generally used in various countries when the authorities assess the prices of pharmaceuticals contained within their reimbursement systems.
In addition, one of the themes for the meeting of the ministers is equal pay. In Switzerland, the nation's equality agency has had an equal pay instrument created by which companies, officials and associations can assess whether or not a business enterprise is paying women and men equal compensation for the same work.
In addition to this, the ministers will discuss retirement reforms, since both Finland and Switzerland are renewing their pension schemes.
Further informationSenior Officer Maija Iles, tel. +358 295 163237