I am British, currently living in Denmark and about to move to Zürich. As I'm frequently moving about and paying to different social security systems, it seems to make sense to take our international health insurance.
After speaking with someone from Greater Zürich Area (nonprofit organization) I was advised to contact a Danish-based health insurance company:
I've just been for a meeting with them and the policy is pretty great. Full coverage in every country in the world (well, excluding a few war zones).. and of course anything that should happen in Switzerland would be covered.
However, the guy I was talking to seemed to think that this *wouldn't* satisfy the Swiss requirement for basic health insurance and that I might have arrange another Swiss policy to 'tick this box'.
Is this true? What is the actual criteria for "everyone living in Switzerland must have basic health insurance"?
Thanks for the quick answer. The Danish company offering the total international insurance policy ( http://www.ihi.com/ ) are certified by various global organisations, and will definitely pay for all medical costs incurred while I am resident in Switzerland.
I did read the FAQ before posting, but couldn't find anything about which insurance policies satisfy the Swiss requirement for basic health insurance, or how to see if a certain policy is satisfactory.
I am also basic, and have cover for all over the world, we are also with reka, and they will fly you from anywhere in the world back to Switzerland with a Doctor/Nurse if you want to come back home to be treated in the Swiss hospitals
I'll add some extra information about my situation as I can now see it might be relevant:
* My girlfriend (also British) is moving to Zürich for 3 years for a research Phd.
* I own a Danish limited company (with employees, etc). I will be moving with my girlfriend to Zürich for 3 years, where I will be opening a Swiss foreign office of the Danish company.
* After these 3 years our current plan is to leave Switzerland again.
So, factors that may make a difference:
* I am planning a 3 year stay (which my partner undertakes a research position)
* I am effectively being 'posted' to Switzerland by a Danish company to open a foreign office.
Would any of these factors make it more likely that the canton of Zürich would accept my all-encompassing mega-international health insurance and exempt me from their version of it?
Finally, how exactly do you go about applying (or questioning) excemption?
If you register as a permanent resident of Switzerland, you will have to have Swiss insurance. Most will cover internationally too, I think - otherwise you can top-up with travel insurance including medical.
For stays in CH that are short term (< 1 year), you may obtain exemption from swiss health insurance provided you have an international insurer that satisfies the swiss health authorities. This involves a lot of paperwork...
In other cases (long stays) a swiss health insurance is mandatory. Your girlfriend will thus have to take out the mandatory cover. She may also be covered by the University for work related matters which include anything that may happen on the way to and from work (but not on holidays). She can thus take a cheap cover option. In addition after 1 year here she will receive a letter from the kantonal health authorities that will subsidise health cover (up to 50%, as PhD salaries are considered low enough to qualify for social assistance).
The last bit of info is that you will be retrospectively charged for your insurance from the day you arrived in CH. So if you take an offer after three months of arriving the company will bill you for all three months... be prepared as this can get very expensive.
I'm no expert in this area but I do not have a local Swiss Healthcare policy - rather an international policy which my company has for all expats over here (it's a US insurer called CIGNA). I've been here 3 years with no problems - and (unfortunately) experienced swiss hospital stays which were fully covered. The only problem was that the hospital would not bill foreign insurers directly, so I had to manage all correspondence and ensure my insurer paid promptly. Also, the hospital required a bond/guarantee for in-patients so if your foreign insurer won't provide that, the hospital may ask you for a deposit of a few thousand CHFs (depending on treatment).
My company apparently applied for an exemption from the Swiss authorities (I don't know how or to whom exactly) but I have definitely not had to get a local policy as well.
To give you information about my experience, I set up a Swiss Corp. and moved here from the US with my wife for a 2-3 yr assignment. Our US "parent" corp. bought an international policy from CIGNA. It is a very comprehensive policy, better than anything I have had in the US. However, I had to battle for almost a year to have it accepted in Zurich. Eventually, I left it to CIGNA to speak directly with the Health Authorities and they came to an agreement that the policy was in compliance with their regulations.
In the meantime, I was assigned a policy and received bills for several months. I informed the insurance company of my situation, but they continued billing me. Finally, when I received an official letter that CIGNA was approved, I sent a copy to the Swiss insurance company, and they stopped billing me.
So good luck. You may need to fight a bit but possibly avoid buying more coverage.
It’s important to understand the conditions under which the Swiss health insurers have to operate. For example, they are none profit making, as far as the basic cover is concerned, and are monitored by the federal government.
They cannot increase your premium, or refuse to insure you, owing to your state of health, no matter how bad it is. They are also obliged to participate in various health programmes.
If you are with a foreign insurer will they continue to cover you if you develope a permanent, and very expensive, condition at normal terms ?