hi all,
My wife & I have been living in Zurich for 3 years on a B-permit (i'm a UK citizen, she's a Canadian citizen). She's now 10 weeks pregnant, yay!
One thing we're a little concerned about is the financial aspect. Some of our swiss friends keep saying things like "oh don't worry the whole thing gets paid for", but for example we had our 6-week scan the other day and got a nice bill for this. I wasn't too surpised (certainly not upset), but I would like to know how much we should be saving up for the pregnancy. Does anyone have a list of costs? Or a list of what things *are* paid for by the gov't (or whomever) ?
Other details: we both have basic insurance thru Assura she has extra supplemental insurance thru Sana24 which has some pregnancy benefits, and she's had this for at least a year and a half (maybe 2) since we've been trying for a while. I will get in touch with my insurance rep about this too. All help appreciated!
thanks
Congratulations!
Generally, the doctors bills are sent to you, you pay them and send them to your insurance company. You pay the whole amount until your franchise has been used up. Hospital bills are generally sent directly to the insurance company, who bills you in turn up to your franchise. 10% of all costs will be billed too.
Have a look at this thread: expecting a baby and if you search, you should find more.
Franchise is deductible in US and excess in the UK.
Congratulations!
The benefits for maternity which are stated in the Swiss law are:
Maternity:
• Pregnancy: Your basic insurance covers the cost of seven routine antenatal examinations carried out by a doctor or a midwife and two ultrasound examinations (one between the 10th and 12th weeks of pregnancy and one between the 20th and 23rd weeks). In high-risk pregnancies your insurance will cover as many examinations and ultrasound examinations as necessary.
• Your basic insurance pays CHF 100 towards the cost of group antenatal
classes held by midwives.
• Your basic insurance pays for the birth of your baby, as long as it is
attended by a doctor or a midwife in a hospital, at home or at a birthing
centre.
• After the birth, your basic insurance covers one post-natal examination
between the 6th and 10th weeks after the baby is born and up to three
breast-feeding advice sessions provided by midwives or specially trained
hospital staff.
Hospital care for your newborn baby:
The hospital and nursing costs incurred for a healthy newborn baby while its mother is still in hospital are part of the mother’s maternity benefits, i.e. they are covered by the mother’s health insurance (there is no cost-sharing ). However, if the baby is or becomes ill, the associated costs are covered by the baby’s insurance (with cost-sharing).
This information was adopted from the Swiss Federal Office of Public health.
You can read the whole booklet at this post:
Everything about Basic health insurance in a PDF
All the best!
thanks all, very helpful!
I've contacted my insurance agent to find out what my wife's supplemental policy covers. It's great to see some of the basic stuff is already covered by basic policy.