Period of notice Health insurance fund

Period of notice of the health insurance company: What deadlines must you observe?

If you are no longer satisfied with your health insurance and would like to change providers, you must submit your notice of cancellation in good time. For basic health insurance, the period of notice depends on the deductible. With a regular deductible, you can give notice in the middle of the year, otherwise until the end of the year. For supplementary insurance, you must observe different periods of notice. 


Period of notice for ordinary franchises

The ordinary franchise for basic insurance is 300 Swiss francs for adults and 0 Swiss francs for children. If you have taken out a corresponding insurance model, you can cancel your health insurance at the middle of the year. The notice period is three months.

This means in concrete terms: Your letter of cancellation must be received by your insurer by 31 March at the latest in order for the cancellation to take effect on time. The notice of termination will then take effect on 30 June. From 1 July, the new insurance contract will apply to your newly selected health insurance policy.

Cancel health insurance at the end of the year

If you have chosen a different deductible rate, you cannot cancel your insurance until the end of the year. Every autumn, the health insurance companies announce their new premiums for the coming year. These are approved by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and published at the end of September. Your insurer must also inform you in writing of the change in premiums by 31 October.

In this case, you can terminate your contract by 30 November. Your insurance relationship will then end on 31 December. Again, the date by which your letter of termination is received by the insurer is decisive.

Periods of notice in supplementary insurance

The conditions for voluntary supplementary insurance can be freely determined by the health insurance funds. For this reason, other notice periods apply than in the basic insurance. For example, you can take out many supplementary insurance policies with a term of one year and a notice period of three months. Other insurers agree terms of three or even five years and notice periods of six months.


As a rule, one-year contracts expire at the end of the calendar year. If the notice period is three months, you must submit your letter of termination to your insurer by 30 September so that the notice can take effect on 31 December.

If an insurer increases the premium for voluntary supplementary insurance, a special notice period of one month to the end of the year applies.

Compare premiums and change health insurance fund

If you miss the notice period, your contract is automatically extended by the agreed term. You are then bound to your insurance for another year or even longer. Therefore, you should think about changing your health insurance company well in advance of the deadline. With our health insurance calculator, you can compare the individual providers and directly obtain an offer from your preferred insurance company.