Swiss Health Policy and Programmatic Groups

This paper investigates the impact of programmatic groups on health policy reforms in Switzerland. According to the Programmatic Action Framework (PAF), people considered programmatic actors, which include civil servants, politicians, come together to form stable alliances known as programmatic groups, bound by shared social identities and a shared commitment to creating and promoting a specific policy program (Bandelow et al. 2021). Previous research in France and Germany (e.g. Hornung 2021) has extensively explored this influence, but so far, the Swiss context remains relatively unexplored. To address this gap, based on a series of interviews with key actors in Switzerland, this paper aims to shed light the identities and diversity of groups actively involved in shaping health policy in Switzerland. Additionally, we seek to highlight the intricate connections between the institutional system and the effectiveness of programmatic groups in advancing their agendas within decision-making arenas. References: Bandelow NC, Hornung J, Smyrl M. Theoretical foundations of the Programmatic Action Framework (PAF). Eur Policy Anal. 2021; 7(Suppl. 1): 14–27. https://doi.org/10.1002/epa2.1083 Hornung J. The (mis)fit of policy programs to political institutions and its influence on programmatic action – How crisis has differently hit French and German health policy. Eur Policy Anal. 2021; 7(Suppl. 1): 120–138. https://doi.org/10.1002/epa2.1108