Costs issues have been at the heart of political debates on healthcare since the 1960s. Concerns have been raised about the ongoing ‘cost explosion’ on the one hand and, on the other, there have been numerous discussions regarding reforms to healthcare funding.
Towards the end of the 19th century, social insurance schemes were still relatively unknown. However, the broad support of the population was critical for the expansion of the Swiss welfare state. The technical reliability of social insurance seemed to offer a major advantage. Advocates of the welfare state often pointed out that social insurance schemes were based on mathematical and statistical foundations. At the same time, authorities and experts criticized the purportedly unscientific practices of existing private assistance funds.
Mathematics and statistics have been important tools in the history of old age and survivors’ insurance, notably in terms of planning its development and financing. In the 1920s and 1930s, prior to the introduction of the AHV, the Confederation published a number of different forecasts. Calculations on the amount and adjustment of AHV pensions as well as the distribution of contribution obligations followed after 1948.