Switzerland really needs to tackle medicine pricing.
A personal example; my doctor prescribes me a medicine that on Jan 1 was dropped off the list of medicines that must be paid by the KK.
Now I have to pay myself so for a three-month supply of the generic version I pay between CHF 220 and 240. If I get a prescription and take it to Germany then I pay 54 euros for the same brand, when I claim the tax back then it is less than CHF45.
Crazy Swiss prices.
I am also switching this year for the first time as the increases have become notable.
I’ve heard about issues in this process from real life co-workers and I’ve also read about similar issues on-line:
the new insurer failing to handle cancellation on one’s behalf with the old insurer
the new insurer failing to transmit the new policy on one’s behalf to the old insurer
the old insurer failing to process any of the above on time (i.e. “it’s lost in the system”)
Questions:
I’ve let my new insurer handle the cancellation on my behalf and I’ve also sent a registered mail to cancel it myself to be safe – is it fine or I am going to annoy someone? I think cancellation is sort of “idempotent”? =)
I’m planning to send a new policy myself as well just in case – is it worth it or in this case it’s always the new insurer who must do it?
Would the old insurer handle the end year docs properly even if I cancel? I am normally relying on it for filling in taxes although there’s no real impact on them, just pro forma.
I had a quick look on Comparis and reached the conclusion to stay where I am with Sympany. Even on Comparis a new contract with the same company was more expensive. It’s like being in jail. In all my years here until now, I have never had a medical payment that did not come out of my own pocket * sigh*
I would expect that you can do that online nowadays, at least with the big insurers. Save yourself the hassle with letters as there’s plenty of time, having confirmation of your notice (which you should receive in a few days) is good enough. You can resort to registered mail later if this doesn’t work.
After that it’s your new insurer’s job to confirm the change. Chose your new insurance before December 15 to make sure there’s enough time.
Seriously? I’m with swica too and now you got my hopes up!
Which canton do you live in?
Ah, Edot. Your near me if I remember correctly. So up after all. Still didn’t get the info from swica and don’t bother to check on comparis as in the end the amount there is never the amount swica demands (very strange, really).
Sounds like I also won’t bother to change, swica treats me well for years now.
Yup, same general residence area. We got an email this week and I had to sift through the crap in the online portal. I sort of wish they were less obtuse with the grand total, but I found it. We’ve been reasonably happy with Swica, telmed is useful, not intrusive. I think we’ve had Swica since 2012.
IMHO one should compare not only an increase relatively to the prev year but also relatively to a similar model in a comparable reputation wise insurance company, then the difference could be more apparent over the past few years together with the current increase.