Facts
The married couple Bärtschi are insured with the "Swiss Federal" Health and Accident Insurance Fund. The fund issued them an invoice for CHF 1,200.- in outstanding contributions. The insured persons set off this claim against a counterclaim of CHF 721.- from benefits provided by the fund. The fund rejected this set-off and demanded the remaining amount of CHF 721.- The insured persons filed a complaint against this decision. They argued that it was a legal inequality if health insurance funds were allowed to set off their benefits against contribution claims, but the insured persons did not have such a right.Considerations
1. The Federal Supreme Court finds that the right of set-off is a general legal principle that also applies in administrative law and social insurance law. In most branches of social insurance, the right of set-off is regulated by law, whereby it only belongs to the administration, not to the insured persons. 2. In health insurance, the right of set-off is not expressly regulated by law, but has been granted to the health insurance funds in practice. The Federal Supreme Court now changes its previous case law and decides that the right of set-off in health insurance also belongs only to the health insurance funds, not to the insured persons. 3. The Federal Supreme Court justifies this by stating that only the…