Obligation of the canton of domicile to reimburse the costs of a medical transport covered by the canton of stay within the framework of emergency assistance benefits granted to a person in need

Facts

The Canton of Berne contested the decision of the Canton of Zurich to request reimbursement of the costs of a medical transport carried out on 31 January 2009 for a person domiciled in the Canton of Berne. The Canton of Zurich considered that this person was indigent at the time of the intervention, based on the fact that a certificate of loss had been issued following the failure of the cost recovery procedure from the beneficiary. The Canton of Berne contested this assessment, arguing that the conditions for granting social assistance were not met in this case.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal dismissed the appeal of the Canton of Berne. It considered that the Zurich cantonal practice, which presumes indigence when the service provider has unsuccessfully attempted to recover the costs from the beneficiary through enforcement, does not violate the notion of indigence under federal law or the principle of subsidiarity of state assistance benefits. The Federal Tribunal held that the canton of stay (Zurich) was…