46 million francs because of oil in cheese slices
Rising insurance benefits despite falling pension costs: in 2015, military insurance paid CHF 194 million for around 40,000 cases of illness and accidents. No more money went to the so-called oil soldiers who were accidentally poisoned by cooling oil in cheese slices during the Second World War.
In 2015, the military insurance (MV) covered just under 30,000 cases of illness and a good 10,000 accidents of its insured, who were primarily performing military, civil defence or civilian service. This was roughly the same number as in the previous year. Of these, militia soldiers were affected in around 16,000 cases of illness and in just under 7,000 accidents. These are the findings of the latest military insurance statistics.
The MA paid a total of CHF 194 million in insurance benefits, CHF 5 million more than in the previous year. "Slightly rising numbers of cases, expensive individual cases and the generally higher medical costs have led to this increase," says Stefan A. Dettwiler, head of the MV. Pension costs, on the other hand, have fallen further to the current level of CHF 94 million, as the number of pension recipients is steadily decreasing. Not only are pension benefits at their lowest level in 40 years, but for the first time in 60 years they are also lower than the CHF 100 million spent on short-term benefits.
Last "oil soldier" died
Also for the first time in 75 years, the MA stopped paying benefits to so-called oil soldiers in 2015. The last oil soldier on record died in 2014. Known as oil soldiers, they were the nearly 100 Swiss conscripts who were poisoned by refrigeration oil for machine guns in 1940. That summer, they mistook the cooling oil for cooking oil and used it to make cheese slices. The following fall, another company used the wrong oil for salad dressing. The conscripts suffered poisoning that resulted in permanent nerve damage.
Fatal mix-up
The mix-up occurred because the cooling oil was filled into edible oil canisters due to a lack of original containers. During transport, any labelling was lost and the cooling oil was fatally taken to the food store. The cooks did not recognize the mix-up, since the cooling oil did not differ from the cooking oil in taste or appearance. Legally, there was no one to blame, making the event an accident. Only the battalion doctor was sentenced to 45 days in prison for breach of duty.
The MA paid a total of 46.1 million francs to the oil soldiers between 1940 and 2015. There was also great solidarity among the population.
The MV has comprehensively covered the chapter of oil soldiers in this year's edition of the Military Insurance Statistics. It is available at www.suva.ch/waswo (link will open in a new window) available.
