Understanding insurance in Switzerland

Everyday questions

• Should I keep accident cover in my basic health insurance if I work?

  Work & accidents

  The answer turns on one precise threshold: eight hours a week with the same employer. Below it, the UVG/LAA does not cover accidents in private life, and suspending cover leaves a gap.

• Can a supplementary health insurer turn down my application?

  Health

  Yes, and it is the most important difference from basic insurance. A supplementary insurer can refuse you, or accept you while excluding certain benefits.

• Home contents or private liability insurance: what is the difference?

  Household & liability

  Home contents insurance pays for your own belongings. Liability insurance compensates third parties for damage you cause them. A single question separates the two.

• Can supplementary insurance exclude an illness from my cover?

  Health

  An insurer can accept an application while excluding a specific condition. What surprises people is that no statute sets how long such an exclusion may last.

• Can I cancel my supplementary health insurance whenever I like?

  Health

  The law guarantees a minimum right of termination that the contract may widen but never narrow. It guarantees nothing whatsoever about what comes afterwards.

Latest guides

• Deductible and model: what you are actually choosing

  Guide · Health

  The deductible and the model are the only two settings in Swiss basic insurance. They do not change the benefits, only what you pay yourself and when you can go back on the choice.

• Changing health insurer: the deadlines, and what blocks it

  Guide · Health

  Changing basic insurer comes down to one date and three conditions. The law is the same for every insurer: what differs is the premium, never the benefits.

• Pillar 3b in Geneva: what the canton makes of it

  Guide · Retirement & pensions

  Pillar 3b is not deductible under federal law, but Geneva has a limited cantonal deduction, taxes the surrender value as wealth, and charges inheritance duty on benefits paid out on death.

• Living in Germany, working in Switzerland: which health cover?

  Guide · Health

  Living in Germany and working in Switzerland means choosing once between Swiss compulsory health insurance and the German system. The two are paid in opposite ways: one per person, the other according to your economic capacity.

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