The Costs of Swiss Supplemental Health Insurance Explained

In Switzerland, if you want to insure healthcare expenses that do not fall under the costs insured by compulsory health insurance, you can get voluntary, supplemental health insurance. Complementary health insurance offers fall into three categories: supplemental outpatient insurance, supplemental hospital insurance, and supplemental dental insurance.

In this guide, moneyland.ch explains the factors that play a role in determining how much you will pay for Swiss supplemental health insurance.

Factors that affect the cost of supplemental outpatient insurance

1. Insurance provider: Each insurance company sets its own price tags, so the same or very similar insurance can cost much more at one insurer than at another. The premiums of offers included in the supplemental health insurance comparison range from around 12 to 68 francs per month, on average, accounting for all age groups.
2. Coverage: Only additional insurance for ambulances and emergency medical care outside of Switzerland are generally included in supplementary health insurance policies. All the other healthcare costs that may be covered by supplemental health insurance vary broadly between offers. As a general rule, the more comprehensive the health insurance coverage is, the higher the insurance premiums are. But prices for offers with similar benefits vary between insurance providers.
3. Optional insurance riders: Some Swiss insurance providers have additional offers that are only available as insurance riders in combination with their basic offers. These riders may add coverage for accidents, raise the limits on benefits in the basic policy, or give you the option of upgrading your insurance without additional health checks. Some add benefits for things like alternative medicine, glasses and contact lenses, gym memberships, maternity, travel, or yoga. The cost of these insurance riders ranges between around 10 and 80 francs per month for an adult, on top of what you pay for the basic offer.
4. Limits on cover: The sum insured varies not just between different insurance offers, but also between each individual kind of covered cost. For example, the same outpatient health insurance may have a limit of 500 francs per year for checkups, 10,000 francs per year for orthodontic treatments, and no limit at all for covered medicines. Supplementary insurance offers (or offers combined with additional insurance riders) that have high limits often cost more than those with low limits.
5. Your age: As a general rule, the older you are, the more you pay for supplementary health insurance. Some insurers raise your premium throughout your lifetime (typically in five-year increments). Others give you a fixed premium based on your age at the time of getting the insurance. Across offers included in the moneyland.ch supplemental health insurance comparison, premiums range between 20 francs (children up to the age of 18) and 44 francs (adults above the age of 55). The actual differences vary between insurance offers.
6. Your gender: Some outpatient insurance providers have different premiums for men and women. Across the offers included in the moneyland.ch supplemental health insurance comparison, the average monthly premium in all age groups is around 34 francs for women and 32 francs for men. Here too, actual differences vary between insurance offers.
7. Insurance deductibles: Some health insurance providers give you the option of adding an insurance deductible in exchange for a discount on your insurance premiums.
8. Where you live: Some insurance providers charge different premiums for complementary outpatient insurance depending on where in Switzerland you live. The difference can be as high as 10 francs per month.

When comparing the costs of supplemental outpatient insurance offers, it is important to account for benefits that directly save you money.

Example: A supplemental health insurance offer costs 1200 francs per year. That offer has annual benefits that cover 600 francs of your gym membership, 100 francs of your contact lenses, and 100 francs of your annual dental checkup. Assuming you would pay for all of those things anyway, the real cost of the insurance would be just 400 francs per year.

The interactive supplemental outpatient insurance comparison on moneyland.ch lets you compare offers based on both costs and insurance benefits.

Factors that affect the cost of supplemental hospital insurance

1. Insurance provider: Which insurance provider is cheapest depends on your situation and which insurance coverage you need. You can compare offers based on your specific requirements using the interactive hospital insurance comparison on moneyland.ch.
2. Insurance type: Supplemental health insurance can be divided into four main categories: general ward insurance, semi-private ward insurance, private ward insurance, and flex insurance. The average monthly premiums across the offers included in the moneyland.ch comparison are around 6 francs for general ward insurance, 82 francs for flex insurance, 109 francs for semi-private ward insurance, and 210 francs for private ward insurance. However, the exact premiums for each type vary hugely between insurance providers.
3. Age: Like supplemental outpatient insurance, the premiums you pay for complementary hospital insurance go up with age (typically every five years). Most insurance providers continue to raise your premiums at five-year intervals throughout the life of your policy. A handful of Swiss hospital insurance providers use fixed premiums that do not go up after you get insured. Average premiums for flex hospital insurance offers in the hospital insurance comparison range between 45 and 138 francs per month, depending on your age. The actual differences can be bigger or smaller, depending on the offer.
4. Gender: Some insurers have different hospital insurance premiums for men and women. When this is the case, premiums for women are typically higher than those for men. Across all insurance offers and models in the moneyland.ch comparison, the average monthly premium is 118 francs for women, compared to 104 francs for men. But the actual gender-based differences vary between offers.
5. Coverage: Offers vary with regards to which hospital and clinics are covered, and whether or not you get to choose your doctor. Other benefits which vary between offers include cover for childcare during hospital stays, convalescent care, housekeeping during hospital stays, maternity care,  rooming in, second opinions, and treatments at hospitals outside of Switzerland, among other things. Some insurers also pay you benefits if you choose a home delivery (maternity) or home-based treatment over a hospital stay. Generally, the more benefits are included, the higher the insurance premium is.
6. Limits on cover: Although cover for the hospital stays themselves is not normally limited, there are generally limits for other coverages such as rooming in or convalescent care. Offers with more coverage typically have higher insurance premiums. You can use the sort tools in the interactive hospital insurance comparison to compare offers based on the limits for specific benefits.
7. Insurance deductibles: Some insurers let choose between several different insurance deductibles, particularly for semi-private and private ward insurance. Choosing a high deductible can lower your insurance premium by more than 100 francs per month.
8. Your location: The premiums you pay for supplemental hospital insurance vary depending on where in Switzerland you live. The premiums for some offers can be nearly 40 percent higher or lower depending on your place of residence.
9. Smoking habits: Some hospital insurance providers have different insurance premiums for smokers and non-smokers. Monthly premiums can be more than 70 francs higher for smokers, depending on your age and the insurance model.
10. Discounts: Some health insurance providers discount your hospital insurance premium if you pay annually. Some insurers give you a discount if you get hospital insurance in combination with their compulsory health insurance or supplemental health insurance. Some offer family discounts for insuring more than one person. Discounts for accepting a long minimum contract term (3 years, for example) are also common.

Other factors to consider

Unlike mandatory health insurance, the premiums you pay are not the most important thing to consider when getting supplemental health insurance. The most important thing is that the insurance actually covers the costs that you are likely to encounter.

The filters and sort options in the interactive supplemental outpatient insurance comparison and hospital insurance comparison let you compare offers based on your needs.

More on this topic:
Compare Swiss complementary outpatient insurance offers now
Compare Swiss complementary hospital insurance offers now
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Costs covered by mandatory health insurance explained
Costs that may be covered by supplemental health insurance explained