Supplementary insurance
What supplementary insurances are there and what do they do?
Compulsory health insurance in Switzerland only covers basic medical services. If you would like further insurance cover, you can take out voluntary supplementary insurance. You can choose between various outpatient supplementary insurance policies and supplementary hospital insurance policies. Benefits and coverage vary from insurer to insurer.
Difference between basic insurance and supplementary insurance
Basic insurance is compulsory in Switzerland. This means that insurance is compulsory. In return, a health insurance company must include you in the basic insurance, regardless of your state of health. The situation is different with voluntary supplementary insurance. As a rule, you must complete a health questionnaire before taking out the insurance. The insurers can enter reservations and even refuse to accept you into the supplementary insurance. Some benefits are subject to a so-called waiting period: A specified waiting period must elapse before the health insurance covers the insured benefits.
Outpatient supplementary insurances
Outpatient supplementary insurance covers benefits that are performed on an outpatient basis and are not covered by basic insurance. These include, for example:
- Complementary medicine: Measures from the field of alternative medicine that are not included in the scope of benefits under compulsory health insurance
- Visual aids: Subsidies for glasses, contact lenses and laser eye treatments
- Medications: Acceptance of medicines not subject to compulsory health insurance coverage
- Psychotherapies: Takeover of non-medical psychotherapies
- Health care: Subsidies for fitness subscriptions, recreational cures, vaccinations and other preventive measures
- Supplementary dental insurance: partial coverage of dental treatments and orthodontic treatments
- Home nursing and domestic help
Supplementary insurance for hospitalization
Compulsory health insurance covers the costs of hospitalization in the canton of residence. It only pays for treatment in a hospital outside the canton of residence if this is medically necessary and the costs are comparable. For more flexibility and comfort, you can take out supplementary hospital insurance.
The following hospital insurances are available:
- General ward: This hospital insurance allows free choice of hospital throughout Switzerland. As a rule, there is no free choice of doctor in the hospital.
- Semi-private insurance: You are entitled to accommodation in a semi-private ward and in a two-bed room. In addition to a free choice of hospital, there is usually also a free choice of doctor.
- Private insurance: You are entitled to accommodation in the private hospital ward in a single room and to treatment by a chief physician.
With Flex models, you can decide shortly before your stay in hospital which ward you would like to be accommodated in. There is a deductible for the stay in the semi-private and private ward.
Insurance cover abroad
The basic insurance already pays for treatment abroad in an emergency. However, the costs may not be more than twice as high as in Switzerland. You can take out additional foreign insurance for further insurance cover abroad. The voluntary travel insurance covers the full cost of treatment. In addition, you will also be reimbursed a higher proportion of any transport costs.
Compare supplementary insurances and find inexpensive insurance cover
The range of supplementary insurance benefits varies greatly. In addition, insurers usually limit their reimbursement to a specified maximum amount per calendar year. If you would like to find a supplementary insurance that optimally suits your needs, our health insurance comparison will help you. We will be happy to advise you free of charge and without obligation.