I have a vague recollection of reading that when you retire your health insurance premiums are reduced, but I don’t know if that’s right and also not sure if that applies when you live in Switzerland or move abroad in your retirement.
Also how do you work out whether you should still continue to pay Swiss health insurance premiums if you move back to the UK? Is it based on the number of years you paid into the UK and Swiss systems or some other method?
If you are retiring abroad the first thing to determine is who is responsible for your healthcare. For the EU/EEA/CH it is the country that pays the larges portion of your state pension.
Assuming your pension is paid mainly from Switzerland then the requirement to pay Swiss health insurance is determined by two things - the acceptance of the HSE (=NHS) being willing to accept you into their service (in writing) and the Swiss authorities granting you an exemption.
Assuming you do have to pay Swiss health insurance, then the next question is whether or not your insurance company offer the expat policy. There is a list somewhere on the internet, but I can't find the link now.
Concerning the cost, when I looked it was about 300 Francs per month for Ireland and does include the right to return to Switzerland if you wished.
The HSE (=NHS) rejected my application and that is were I left it.
Thanks, that gives me a start.
Given the figures I got from ahv-iv the other day for me it seems the Swiss would be higher at 1,200+ against my UK pensions of £650+ atm, but I guess it’s also swings and roundabouts due to whatever the exchange rates are at the time. Not sure what husband’s UK ones will be; that’s something I’m going to have to investigate.
Where did you have to write to about being accepted into the UK system Jim2007? Sounds like this might complicate us getting accepted with a local GP and I want to try and get that set up before we move back due to husband’s health. Going to talk to the surgery nearest to our place when we’re over next and see what they have to say, but doubt if they’ll know anything about this side of things.
And I guess that’s assuming the Swiss and UK governments have agreed to keep the same system as when the UK was in the EU as well. If they haven’t and the UK is now non-EU for that, what are the differences? Do you still have to keep up Swiss health or does that go out the window?
Edit: Found this, but doesn’t help much with working out who pays.
Are you sure about this? When I looked in to this topic it seemed to me that if you receive a pension from the EU country in which you live, that country is responsible for healthcare.
Source: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen…r/index_en.htm - Pensioner section:
"Healthcare in the country where you live
If you receive a pension from the country where you live: you and your family are covered by that country’s health insurance system — even if you are also receiving pensions from other countries.
If you do not receive a pension or any other income from the country where you live: you and your family will receive medical treatment in the country where you live if you would be entitled to medical treatment in the country that pays your pension."
According to my research if you are receiving a Swiss pension and live outside EU/EFTA, health insurance should be taken out in the country of residence.
I don't know, but assuming you'd have Swiss insurance, I assume you'd be a private patient in the UK, pay the bills and then claim from the Swiss insurance. The other hassle I see is that you need to figure out what is covered and what is not.
In order to get the Swiss exemption you need to get acceptance from the local system in the country you move to. The best the HSE (Ireland) could come up with was if I move to Ireland, found a job and made 11 months pension contributions I'd get access to the Irish system because I already have 13 months from back in the 80s when I lived there.
At my age and health conditions it's not realistic to be 13 months without health cover so I just drew a line under it and moved on.
It maybe that the Swiss/UK mind the gap agreement has another impact.
Hopefully it will be easier for the OP, but for me the door is firmly closed. I need to pay Swiss insurance.
This site also has some helpful general info:
https://www.kvg.org/en/private-perso…nce/pensioner/
Recipients of a Swiss pension resident in an EU/EFTA country must take out Swiss health insurance.
If they live outside the EU/EFTA, they must take out health insurance, not in Switzerland, but in their country of residence.
The only exception to this might be in any possible "mind the gap" agreements with the UK.
Otherwise, moving home to any country outside of the territory of Switzerland-and-the-EU necessarily means - quite independent of one's citizenship, or from which country one derives one's income, including pensions - that there is no further access to any Swiss medical insurance or care .
Yeah, will have to try and find out if there’s anything specifically in the “mind the gap” agreement re health insurance.