Reinforced measures against insurance fraud
Suva has submitted its own proposal for a bill that would allow accident insurers to use detectives again. In addition, it is taking further measures to uncover cases of abuse even without observations.
Suva has analyzed the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of October 18, 2016, and is now implementing further measures. In the ruling, the ECtHR reprimanded another insurance company for using private detectives to monitor an accident victim. The current legal basis in Switzerland was insufficient for this.
Suva then decided not to issue any new observation orders until further notice and to discontinue all ongoing observations. It is sticking to this decision and will now consequently also destroy observation documents already received from ongoing cases. This also applies to medical assessments that were created on the basis of film material.
Suva submits draft law
Although Switzerland can still appeal the Strasbourg ruling, the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) has already announced that it will submit a corresponding revision of the law for consultation by the end of the year. In addition, the Committee for Social Security and Health of the Council of States (SGK-S) decided last week to also prepare a draft law, which in the quickest case could be passed by parliament in the fall of 2017.
Suva welcomes a swift political decision that clearly regulates the use of detectives by law, and it wants to actively participate in the political process. It has therefore already submitted to the FSIO its own formulation proposal for a legal article on the subject of surveillance. This regulates, among other things, which conditions permit surveillance and where it may take place.
Increased field work
To ensure that Suva can continue to combat abuse in a targeted manner until a clear legal basis comes into force, it intends to monitor conspicuous cases more intensively: More medical examinations, increased cooperation with the authorities and more witness interviews are intended to provide clarity at an early stage. In addition, it wants to carry out more frequent checks with the field service if there are reasonable grounds for suspicion. There will always be expensive individual cases that can only be prevented thanks to detectives.
