Thanks in advance!
I would like to know the details of Group Mutuel Health Insurance.
If you don't speak German, I have found that I get email replies to my questions in English, in about 3-4 days via the info details that they give when you sign up.
I know this is an older posting, but perhaps some experiences with Groupe Mutuel will be helpful to this community. First off, go to www.comparis.ch to get a comparison of all Swiss health insurances. You will find (1) GM is one of the cheapest, (2) it has one of the lowest ratings (4.6 out of 6) in customer satisfaction, and (3) it has a much longer contract period (5 years) for supplementary insurance than other companies (mostly 1 year).
After 2 years being insured by GM, it became clear why they are cheap. They periodically would not reimburse justified expenses, and only did so after I complained. I thought my supplementary "Global Classic" insurance partially covered gym memberships. They rejected that request by noting that you need an additional supplement for "alternative medicine" to that supplement. Finally I gave notice at the end of 2011. But wait, I was still bound to the supplementary policies which had not increased in price (in the case of my kids, all of them). One supplementary was for orthodontic coverage for CHF 2 per month per child. Then they sent a letter claiming that since I no longer qualified for a "family bonus" (parent and children all fully insured at GM), the price was now CHF 20 per month. And that with a 5-year obligatory contract. You can do the math -- it more than makes up for the small monthly savings in their basic rates.
Please make your own comparisons, and get information from other GM subscribers, but you probably can infer from the above what my recommendation would be.
In many cases I would have deleted this post from a first time poster telling of such negative experience with a firm/society etc. However, it looks to be a very balanced and realistic report, mentioning the method of checking the information in other places so I'll leave it. I hope that others have used the Insurance or have, after due thought, decided against it and can tell us of their experience too.
I posted previously. We have a high franchise and have never gone over and needed to make a claim, so for us at this point it's been worth having the 'cheapest' insurance option...
My experience with GM has been that you do need to keep copies of your bills that are sent to them and double check on the reimbursements - I usually find something in error. However, communication wise, they have always responded promptly by email (in English if necessary) and to date the errors are corrected promptly.
I also agree that the information given regarding the different insurances and coverage appears to be as difficult to read and it's only when you want reimbursement that you discover you're not covered due to some clause in section xxxx that you managed to overlook as you were bombarded by the all the information in the previous sections! I also find that they will give you the information you request but they will allow you to fall into traps like you describe. So, before signing you really, really need to be clear on what it is you are signing up for and know what you're expecting to have from your insurance.
Are they really any different to any other insurance company though in this regard?
I have been using Groupe Mutuel, and I must say I haven't had any problems whatsoever - they are very prompt in replying to emails (like within 1-2 business days), the reimbursements get through no problem - perhaps they take their sweet time, as in 2 months later, but from what I hear from friends, a lot of other insurance companies take their sweet time with reimbursements also. I liked the fact that you can ask them to send you all correspondence in your preferred language, and they are happy to do so (they send it to me in Italian).
My experience with Group Mutuel has been similar to a lemon. Love the aroma, but not the bitter taste . Yes, Group Mutuel offers some of the lowest premiums, but you get what you pay for.
I tried to switch over to Group Mutuel from SWICA for 2012. The Group Mutuel representative was young and inexperienced. My request to change insurance coverage for 2012 was sent in late. I paid my premium for January to Group Mutuel a day before I received notice from SWICA that my request to change insurance coverage was denied. The young and inexperienced representative said he would contact SWICA and clear up the matter. SWICA refused to listen to anything he had to say. Forutnately, Group Mutuel refunded my money quickly.
However, Group Mutuel very quickly enrolled me for insurance coverage for 2013 and notified SWICA of the pending change. I think they should have confirmed with me first rather than deciding for me.
I really appreciate it that my post was not deleted, and think that other people in the community are getting something out of the discussion. Again, I would encourage any newcomers to go to www.comparis.ch to get an objective view of the wide spectrum of offerings. In the past years many companies have institute "gotcha" clauses, like the 5-year contract GM has in place, and people needed to be informed about this (sadly, I was not). There are health insurances with much higher customer satisfaction, and I am hoping to have better experiences with SWICA.
Moreover, if anyone has any advice on how I might get out of the 5-year contract for an expensive orthodontic insurance my kids (2 and 4) don't even need, I would welcome your thoughts. Naturally I am also asking SWICA if they can help, since they were the ones who 'recruited' me
Thanks for the interesting discussion.
Yes, I do agree with you that GM is quite good, we have used it for 6 years now and they do help. 1st was my medical bills for the delivery of 2 kids age 6 and 4 now and secondly was, when we travel abroad, went to hospital an brought back the invoices both for my husband and kid. I rang them (they have people that speak English ) to explain the emergency situation, they allow the invoice to be reimbursed.
I am with Group Mutuel Assurance as well, and I cannot really complain. They have always reimbursed me in max. 2 weeks, everytime, I have questions or doubts I call or write them an email and in a short time I receive always a reply.
In the documents that GM send along with the contract, it is clearly stated what is covered and what is not covered, and If I have a doubt on the meaning I promptly write and email and I promptly receive a reply with the proper clarification.
I have used them, including for some really big bills (I mean nearly six figure total!)
Found I had to nag them to get big payments refunded quick...whereas they charge me instantly for non-reimbursable items put to them. To their benefit on cash flow.
They did argue about some of the individual item prices but at the end of the day I got what I was due me.
Not smooth, or terribly helpful, but no worse than private insurers I've had in other countries.
Group Mutuel is the worst Insurance provider I have encountered with.
They are just plain cheap in all possible ways.
They do not reimburse justified payments and I need to send repeated emails, phones and personally need to go in most occasions.
Recently they even complained the Betrieb department for non payment of a bill, I sent my bank account statement which clearly stated that I paid all bills.
No reply to email, can not get through phone, today had to go in person and the receptionist in the Oerlikon was the rudest person I have ever spoken to.
She was chatting in her computer and was replying in mono syllables, did not even apologize for the harassment I went through, just told "Ya it is all ok you can leave.." I was actually stunned by the rudeness and could not say much.
Instead I found I paid them 286 CHF extra, which they told they can not reimburse me because it was my mistake to pay them extra and if I want I can complain writing a letter...this is outrageous....Can I take legal actions or complain about them somewhere?
How can they deliberately harass their customers, and I am not the sole victim I am sure...?
errr....
GM is one I would not recommend!
Cheap, yes, it is! We started with them for this reason but soon enough we decided they are not the ones we want to continue with.
In Switzerland I find client service not to be one of the top areas but GM really is on the lower side of the scale.
Just to give an example of my last experience with them: my wife works in a mobility role for one of the companies in CH and her jobs involves arranging the moves of people within the company including taking care of their health insurance while they go outside Switzerland for an assignment. From the very first moment she had a case where GM was the insurer for the person moving outside Switzerland we ended up somehow in their database with her work mail address. We have struggled for the past 8 months to explain to their customer service that our personal invoices should arrive at our home address not to the financial department of my wife's work place -> no success with this.
I have to call them on a monthly basis to explain this over and over again and get the details of the next payment slip so I can make my monthly payment on time.
I hope they handled properly our notice of terminating the contract with them and we will hopefully start with a new health provider as of 1st of January.
Hope this helps,
Jorgeu