Health insurance: Recipients of a Swiss pension living abroad

Not sure how they’d manage that if they don’t know my address.

You have to give your new address to the commune when you deregister so unless you plan on lying to them they’ll know.

Presumably they would ask your Swiss pension provider.

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My Health Insurance, Swica, states this on their website. It is a tad vague with “can”:

What you need to know

1. Switzerland’s requirement for insurance no longer applies when you move away

  • Once you move abroad, your insurance obligation under the KVG usually ends. What this means is that your basic insurance is no longer valid. You will no longer receive benefits for treatments in Switzerland and abroad.

2. Special cases in which you may keep your Swiss basic insurance

  • If you live in an EU/EFTA country and receive a Swiss pension (e.g. AHV/IV). Then Switzerland can continue to be responsible for your health insurance.
  • If you work as a cross-border commuter (you have a residence abroad and work in Switzerland). In that case, you are generally subject to mandatory insurance in Switzerland. There are still countries with the right to opt out.
  • If you work for a Swiss employer abroad (job posting): In the case of an official posting, you will remain insured under the Swiss system for two years (minimum duration), subsequently renewable for up to six years.
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This health insurance situation for pensioners is not a Swiss requirement as such, it is part of the arrangements that exist as part of the Swiss/EU/EFTA Free Movement of People agreements - the basic principle is whatever country to have lived in (and contributed to) for the largest part of your working life remains responsible for your health coverage during your pension years.

You can’t “opt out” in the same way as you can’t opt out of having health insurance when you are here.

In certain cases, if your new country will allow you opt-in to their system then you will be allowed out of the Swiss system.

It is also the case that you can get support with your health insurance premiums if you live here and you are “of modest means” - that support is also available to “Swiss pensioners” living abroad.

main principle: if you live in an EU/EFTA country which is also paying you pension the country is solely responsible for your health insurance, you can’t opt in/out of anything

secondary principle: if you live in EU/EFTA country which doesn’t pay you any pension, then the country in which you contributed for the longest period is responsible for you health insurance (not the largest which implies amount not period!!!)

tertiary principle or rather exception of the above: some EU countries have special treaties that let you choose

PS. but the OP is outside EU/EFTA, maybe the rules applies reciprocally to OP, maybe not :person_shrugging:

I have 20 years of Swiss contributions & 35 years of UK contributions. I will take my Swiss pension 2 years before my UK pension. Are you saying when I get a UK pension I can stop paying for Swiss health insurance?

I am not an expert on this topic, I just looked into once for general information.

From what I can make out from your posts yours is a slightly complicated situation, 20 years of Swiss contributions & 35 years of UK contributions, living in Malta and planning to take the Swiss pension first.

I know absolutely nothing about the regulations in Malta or the UK, assume they are the same as the Swiss regulations for this topic.

From my understanding, with 20 years of Swiss contributions & 35 years of UK contributions, the UK would be primarily responsible for your health coverage as the majority of the working life was in the UK system. That’s the first thing to clarify with the NHS.

I assume if you took the UK pension first, you could possibly get yourself into the NHS system and be covered by that. On that basis you could request an exemption from the Swiss system when you take the Swiss pension.

However, if you do it the other way around taking the Swiss pension first, when you take the CH pension you would be expected to have Swiss health insurance until such time as you were given an exemption but the situation is unclear. I also read someplace that you have to apply for the exemption with three months of taking the Swiss pension so that is also a complication in your case.

I think if I was in your situation and wished to avoid being in the Swiss system I would take the UK pension first and clarify with the UK that you will remain in their system also when you get your Swiss pension.

But as I said, I am not an expert on this topic.

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As I can’t take the UK one till I am 67, I will probably take the Malta one next year at 65. Malta excludes €37,104 of pension income from tax from 2026 & going forward, so it’s worthwhile taking the Malta one. Having Swiss insurance does mean I could have planned surgery etc in Switzerland which is probably not a bad option. The cheapest Swiss premium is CHF152 & it’s not gone up in years.

I have to make this decision at some point. Right now the UK and Swiss contribution years will be about the same with me on track to have more Swiss years than UK years. However, I have the ability to have more UK years than Swiss years by making additional Class 3 voluntary contributions.

It’s interesting to have this ‘choice’, but I haven’t worked out whether it is better to have more UK years or not.

If you can have the Swiss insurance at CHF 152/month it is anyway not a bad option to have

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You have to manage your CH & UK contributions carefully as the choice flows from that as far as I understand the situation

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According to AI, the UK will become responsible for my healthcare once I get a UK pension. I attach the full answer

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Have you specifically asked it if the years where you were paying both UK Class II and regular Swiss AHV count for both year counts? An interesting question that I guess applies to a lot of us…

No, however for the UK I have proof of 35 years of contributions. In my case I was paying class 3 for about 12 years, then stopped as 30 was the required no, reduced from 44. Then when I restarted & bought 5 years of class 2 in 1 go just before I left CH.

When in the UK, I was paying class 1, 2 & 4 in different years depending on when I was working for my own company or self employed.

Class 2 is self employed in theory, so should definately be allowed.

I don’t have a reference but I remember reading such years are counted in both countries, but also counted twice for the denominator two.
So eg if work = 10 years in uk,followed by 20 years in ch during which you also bought 10 extra years in the UK. → uk = 20/40 and ch=20/40 so 50%

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As we’ve been talking pensions here thought this article might be interesting for those of you still working and contributing to pension schemes.