Facts
Since 1968, there has been a collective agreement with a tariff for medical services between the Cantonal Medical Association of Schaffhausen and the Cantonal Health Insurance Association of Schaffhausen. This tariff provided for an automatic adjustment of the point value by 50% of the inflation rate from 1987 onwards, provided that the national consumer price index had increased by at least 5%.
On December 13, 1991, the Federal Assembly adopted urgent federal decrees on cost containment in health insurance, which entered into force on December 14, 1991. The Health Insurance Association then wanted to no longer grant the automatic inflation adjustment, whereupon the Medical Association submitted the matter to the cantonal arbitration tribunal under Art. 25 of the Federal Health Insurance Act (KHVG).
The arbitration tribunal decided that the Health Insurance Association was obliged to comply with the indexation clause in the collective agreement and thus to increase the point value to 85 cents as of January 1, 1992, despite the urgent federal decrees. The Health Insurance Association filed an administrative court appeal against this decision.
Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court concluded that the administrative court appeal was admissible, as the decision of the arbitration tribunal did not constitute a decree on a tariff within the meaning of Art. 129 para. 1 lit. b of the Federal Supreme Court Act, but merely concerned the application of an already approved indexation clause in the collective agreement.
On…