By Joseph Q. Jarvis | Published: 26 July 2026
Switzerland has perennially been in the top five wealthiest nations measured by per capita GDP. It’s a country with a long history of religious freedom and the rule of law, not monarchy. Famously and stubbornly independent and neutral, the Swiss believe in themselves and their national will to do everything well. Switzerland is a country also blessed with natural beauty as the accompanying photos attest.
I have good friends who live in Switzerland. They attest to something else that the Swiss do well. In Switzerland the care of the sick and injured is a priority. One of my friends recently fell and broke bones in her elbow and knee. She received urgent world class care including surgery for the elbow injury. She continues on physical therapy to restore joint mobility.
Routine care is also optimal in Switzerland. Primary care appointments are available within reasonable time frames. Prescriptions are readily filled. Referrals to specialists are easily accomplished. And this level of care is universal.
In the United States it is common to disparage health reform efforts striving to include everyone (I.e., make health care universally available) as socialist or communist and inherently poor in quality. Universal care, so these critics say, leads to long wait times, shortages in services, and a failure to innovate. The Swiss experience with universal care proves that is emphatically not true.
Health care in Switzerland is more expensive than anywhere else in the world—except the United States. We spend more on healthcare by far than do the Swiss ($15,000/person in US vs. $9,000/person in Switzerland) but we are the people waiting for care, dying because we can’t get needed care, and suffering family financial disaster because of the cost of care. Universal care is not socialism; it is the sensible policy choice when the societal objective is to support the individual pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness through the promotion of the general welfare.
Learn more about how to organize universal care at View source at utahcares.health and DONATE to the campaign to change how America does health care business.
Dr. Joseph Q. Jarvis is a public health physician, chair of the Utah Cares Political Issue Committee and author of several books, including The Purple World: Healing the Harm in American Health Care and What the Single Eye Sees: Faith, Hope, Charity, and the Pursuit of Discipleship.