Kind of similar to CB: I've just found out that I will be leaving in October, so I have until the end of this week to send notice letters etc...but off the top of my head (need to find the contract safely 'filed' in my apartment) my insurer (Swica) will only let me out of the contract once per year with the usual 3 month notice period.
Is there any point in notifying them that I will leave in 3 months or should I just wait until I deregister?
You do not normally have to give three months notice if you are leaving the country.
Advise your commune that you are leaving and they will issue a notice regarding this. If you send this to your insurers they should cancel accordingly.
I left Switzerland permanently around 2 months ago to live in Spain. After doing the "right thing" and sending my deregistration papers from the local commune to Assura, i had assumed all was well and that my health insurance policy would be cancelled. How wrong was I!! i have checked my bank statements and they have debited my account for two months i was not resident in Switzerland. After contacting Assura, i was informed that i needed to complete a Fragebogen that has a number of quite intrusive questions around financial arrangements, pensions, employment, new health insurance plan, etc... Apparently they will not cancel my policy until they receive this.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? if so, do you know what the intent behind this Fragebogen form is? not that i have anything to hide, but i dont understand why a health insurer is demanding answers to questions that normally government, tax office, or immigration would be asking?!! what happens to this information afte i submit it. Assura employees could not seem to help me with these questions (no surprise)
Wow. Very very strange. My husband (a Swiss citizen, if that makes a difference to the insurance company) deregistered and his company simply accepted the deregistration paper after he called and asked how to cancel. They even refunded several months worth as the deregistration was backdated.
Immediately write to your Bank and tell them Cancel this and other direct debit instructions. Demand refund of illegitimate deduction. Roll back is only within 30 days of debit. You have no obligation to fill in anyone's questionnaire.
Question: Is it really true that I will be obliged to pay health insurance from the date I entered the country (i.e. back-charged)? I have been in Switzerland for 2.5 months now and have not yet bothered to get health insurance (instead, I have travel insurance purchased in Canada).
Here's a little background: I am in posession of both a Canadian and Swiss passport and am currently looking for work in Switzerland (i.e. unemployed!). I have never offically lived here, so that it why I am just as confused an any other expat on this whole health insurance issue.
Anyways, if anyone can offer some words of advice, that would be great!
if you are legitimately registered with the local authorities and plan to stay...
I can recommend speaking to 'Insurance Jenny' - look her up on the forum, she can sort your insurance out for you and maybe even save you some money...
Actually....I am not yet registered with the local authorities. As of now, I am have pretty much been "a canadian on a long vacation in Switzerland". I understand however that I should regisiter prior to being in the country for 3 months. I wonder if I will only need to pay health insurance as of the date that I register??
I think I understand the GP and HMO plans (which seem kind of the same to me), but is there a PPO plan? Here a PPO plan is more expensive than an HMO but you can go to any doctor or specialist at any time without needing a referral and your insurance covers it.
Hi- I am after some advice as I'm pretty clueless when it comes to swiss legalitise. I took out insurance with sanitas when I moved here two years ago. I have been paying all my bills. Groupmuteul kept sending me bills for insurance too, I ignored them thinking it was just a mistake. When they kept arriving I emailed them and wrote, showing them my sanitas certificate (they ignored it & continued sending me bills). Now they've finally wrote back saying they've stopped my account but they want back payment from last two years! I got a demand letter today for this payment from the canton. I am really stressed about it all and don't know what to do. Any help would be gratefully received.
The first thing is to try to get the two insurers to talk directly to each other. If that doesn't get you rapid results, then my normal strategy is a blizzard of correspondence to the insurance supervisory body, to consumer watchdogs, to any relevant ombudsman, to the commune. And to the PDG of the mutuelle, by registered post. Be sure to preserve (print them out now) copies of your emails documenting your demand to cancel.
Generally speaking the strategy of large firms caught in an error or in mis-selling is to ignore and deny, to try to wear out the consumer or investor. It took three (3) years to get a settlement with AXA France for a personal injury case and in the end I filed suit in a USA state court and threatened an additional suit in London; and when they didn't pay a judgment I got in Paris on a related claim not against the insured but AXA itself, I threatened to attach their 2% share of Legal & General in England under EU law on enforcement of judgments. That got their attention. Last week I got the money.
If you ignore a demand for money and let it go to debt collection you are at a disadvantage. You have to make life so difficult for the arrogant, wrongful claimant that they stop harassing you. Eventually, if you attract enough attention at the top, and take up too much executive time, they will respond. Only then. That's why, if you are clearly in the right, you should want to get government and the press to do most of your work for you.
I spent a few minutes searching in Google within 'site:admin.ch' for 'couverture double assurance maladie' but didn't find any specific answers in the limited time I could devote. As Switzerland seemingly has rules for everything, you might ask at the commune level whether there is a rule for that.
When you arrange insurance you have to complete a form and produce your residents permit. Is it possible that you have somehow managed to sign up with both companies ?
You obviously signed up with Sanitas but did you have any contact with Group Mutual ?
Did you deal direct with the companies or use an agent ?
I signed up to sanitas myself, I don't remember enquiring about any others but it is possible, that said, I definately didn't sign anything and my date of birth is even wrong on the insurance. I am only in my early twenties and am finding this demand for money pretty stressful and scary as I'm in a foreign country and am not good with the language to even try and argue my case (or understand it). I think I really need to get a lawyer to help me. If anyone knows one in this area, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
If you are confident that you did not make an application to Group Mutual then they won’t have any document from you that could support their claim.
I would ask them to send you a copy of the proposal and, if they realise they don’t have one, that should settle the matter.
It does, however, seem strange that they have your name and address. Did you receive any documents from them when the insurance was allegedly arranged ?
At this stage I wouldn’t involve a lawyer as this could be very expensive.
Group Mutual have an agent in Geneva - Rue Argand 3, 1201 Genève, Tél.: 0848 803 111 Fax: 058 758 87 28.
You could contact the British Consulate in Geneva ( Avenue Louis Casai 58, Case Postale 6, 1216 Cointrin - Genev ) a nd they may be able to put you in touch with someone who could help.
Here's another question (Jenny I'm looking your way),
Apparently those earning under a certain amount per month can have some of their insurance costs subsidised. Is this only for Swiss citizens or for all residents? If applicable to foreign residents what is the cut-off point r.e monthly earnings?
I've tried to find this out elsewhere but unsuprisingly none of the websites on insurance give advice on how to reduce payments.
Jenny, no doubt, will be along to answer but, in the meantime, I can tell you that it's dealt with by your local commune and it's not limited to Swiss citizens only.
It may vary between Communes/Cantons so to get a definite answer it may be better to check with your local commune.
Let's say that I have selected an annual franchaise of X francs, and I take one of those complementary options for hospitalization (e.g. semi-private room).
This means that in any case the insurance company will cover my cost of hospitalization in a semi-private room? Or it means that the cost of the hospitalization will be added in my annual expenses and only after I reach X francs I will get it refunded?
It's reimbursed only after the franchise is reached. But that's a tricky question and for my insurance (Mutuel Insurance), it's like that. For other models, I don't know, for eg. if you take flex option of choosing the hospital type...