As we’re hopefully getting close to finishing off the move back to the UK I just wondered what would happen if you couldn’t afford to pay the Swiss health premiums? I did look at the reduced premium requirements and while I think our income might be just below the threshold the assets wouldn’t be so we wouldn’t qualify for that.
But what would happen if we couldn’t pay? Is there some backup scheme that would kick in if needed?
You would have to look at UK social security for help.
The Swiss insurance could attempt to claim from you as the do for residents of CH, if you don’t have the funds or assets to pay they can’t kick you out of the insurance a debt just builds up.
If you don’t reside in Switzerland, there’s no need to pay for it.
If receiving a Swiss pension you almost certanly do if Switzerland has a social security agreement with your country of residence.
I left CH in 2014 but will need to take out Swiss health insurance next year if I take my Swiss pension.
Another thought I just had - how does it actually work in another country? Does the Swiss way still apply re franchise, etc? I’m thinking mainly about prescriptions. Here husband often doesn’t have to pay for part of the year because his medication puts him over the franchise limit and the other part after that. Does that sort of thing also apply in another country? Because if not, it may hit hard for his MS medication if we have to pay for that in full in the UK.
Your Franchise will be €300 you have no option in the matter as a Swiss pensioner living abroad.
If you receive a UK pension, then you can get out of the Swiss requirement if living in the UK
Not as easy as that Farmanfilms. Depends on several factors whether you can or not.
Our franchise atm is quite low as we chose CHF500 when we first got Swiss health insurance and never changed it to anything else.
I think it will become 300 when you move to the UK & change your address. The prices vary by country
Interesting. I wonder why they do that? To fit in with another country’s health guidelines?
Here are the premiums for 2027 https://www.priminfo.admin.ch/downloads/gesamtbericht_eu-2027.pdf
Page 67 for UK cheapest is CHF 226 a month
So doesn’t include accident insurance like the Swiss one can.
sorry next page 68 CHF285 a month is the cheapest
Well, we’ll save a bit and I think that I won’t have to have the insurance since I never worked in Switzerland. I get a Swiss pension because my husband worked here and it was taken from his earnings.
You will need Swiss health insurance if receiving a Swiss pension as Switzerland is responsible for your healthcare. My understanding is CHF 475 or thereabouts was paid on your behalf which is how you get the lower insured amount for the no of years you were in CH
Well, in this thread seems not.
and here
It’s totally confusing.
According to the last link as we both get pensions from the UK as well as Switzerland then we should be exempted from needing Swiss health insurance.
Yes, if you are receiving a UK old age pension, however the UK retirement age is higher & you can’t take it 2 years early like a Swiss one
They will bill you and eventually sue you
Hopefully you will qualify for exemption or avoid the problem by retiring to somewhere like Thailand
Actually got my UK pension before the Swiss because of the age difference at the time. Didn’t work for hubby as he’s a few years younger than me so got his Swiss one first.
Thanks for the clarification.
I only knew the cases of EU countries with special agreements with Swiss health system, like Italy, Germany or Spain, where it’s possible to opt out of the Swiss system. Or the other case of living in a 3rd with no agreement at all with CH, thus no need to pay if not living in CH. I was not aware of the case of UK and other European countries stuck in the middle. Neither the full integration to Swiss system which allows to opt out when not living in CH, nor the freedom of living in a 3rd country.
It’s a minefield trying to work out who pays what and where and there’s a wealth of misinformation floating around.
