Swiss health insurer profile
Visana — the health insurance that pays loyalty back.
Visana is the Bern-rooted insurer that rewards staying healthy and staying put. A 20% no-claims bonus on supplementary, multi-year contract discounts, and regional pricing strength in the alpine cantons — the value compounds if you commit.
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Fits
Wrong
Founded
1996
Roots to 1870 (KKB Bern)
Headquarters
Bern
Mittelland
Insured persons
~848K
Part of Atusana group (with Atupri)
| Category | Visana |
|---|---|
| Languages | DE, FR, IT (EN limited) |
| Moneyland 2025 | 7.8 / 10 (Good) |
| Bonus.ch 2025 | 5.3 / 6 — alongside Helsana and SWICA |
| Digital experience | myVisana app (SIQT Award 2025) + myPoints fitness |
| Pricing model (supplementary) | Age-band + 20% no-claims bonus + multi-year discounts |
| Regional strength | Bern, Solothurn, Aargau — among the cheapest basic premiums |
Sources: Visana scope of services 2026 · moneyland.ch 2025 · bonus.ch · visana.ch
Product lineup
Visana's supplementary range is bundled rather than modular. These are the four options that come up in expat consultations.
Budget supplementary bundle closing the key KVG gaps. Emergency transport, basic alternative medicine, limited dental. The minimum layer for expats who want some coverage without a large premium.
Entry-level tier — cheapest Visana supplementary bundle
Coverage limits on S are tight. Alternative medicine and dental caps may run out by mid-year for regular users.
Mid-tier bundle adding dental, check-ups, alternative medicine, and psychotherapy. The package most expats land on — broader than S without the premium jump to L.
Mid-range tier — the most common choice
The 20% no-claims bonus applies here — but only if you claim nothing all year. One physiotherapy visit resets it.
Flexible hospital coverage: choose your ward at each admission with a co-payment for upgrades. Lower base premium than committed semi-private or private.
Lower than committed hospital tiers — co-pay per upgrade
The co-payment on semi-private or private upgrades can be steep for longer stays. Model the expected length of stay before choosing Flex over committed.
Committed hospital tiers. Semi-private: twin room, senior physicians. Private: single room, chief physician. The products where the age-curve and the no-claims bonus interact most.
Age-banded — steepest of Visana's lineup
The no-claims bonus softens the age-band climb — but one hospital claim wipes it. At 55+, the premium without the bonus can be punishing.
Two services come with most plans: TelDoc (the Telmed basic model via the Well app) and myPoints (the fitness bonus programme — earn up to CHF 120/year for staying active).
The age-curve trap
Spital Semi-Private — monthly premium by age
The CHF 150 you pay at 30 becomes CHF 670 at 70. This is the age-curve trap.
| Age | Monthly premium (CHF) |
|---|---|
| 30 | 150 |
| 40 | 220 |
| 50 | 350 |
| 60 | 500 |
| 70 | 670 |
Visana Spital Semi-Private: the CHF 150 you pay at 30 becomes CHF 670 at 70. The no-claims bonus can reduce this by 20% in healthy years — but one claim resets it. The underlying curve is age-band, same as CSS and Helsana.
Visana's 20% no-claims bonus on supplementary premiums is unique among mid-size insurers. If you don't claim anything on your supplementary in a calendar year, next year's premium drops 20%. The bonus resets if you claim — even once.
Combined with a 3-year multi-year contract (2% discount) or a 5-year contract (3% discount), the stacked savings can offset a meaningful portion of the age-band climb. For healthy, low-usage expats, this is Visana's genuine competitive edge.
The catch: the bonus is binary. One physiotherapy visit, one prescription, one claim of any kind — and the 20% discount disappears for the following year. For expats who use their supplementary actively, the bonus is theoretical. For those who rarely claim, it's real money.
"Visana rewards the years you don't need your insurance. The 20% no-claims bonus is the closest thing in Swiss health insurance to a loyalty dividend — as long as you stay healthy enough to earn it."
Read the contract
English support is unreliable. The website is German, French, and Italian only. Phone support in English can involve 15+ minute waits and inconsistent language capability. For English-only expats without a broker, this is material friction.
The multi-year contract lock-in cuts both ways. The 5-year contract saves 3% — but if your employer relocates you in year two, you're still on the hook for the contract term. The 3-year is the safer bet for most expats.
Visana's pricing advantage is regional, not national. In Bern and Solothurn, they're competitive. In Zürich and Geneva, CSS, Helsana, or Concordia often undercut them on basic premiums. Don't assume the Bern price applies everywhere.
This is the kind of thing we read the contracts for.
Hua-Ling · 29 · Taipei → Bern, 2024
Young professional, healthy, expected to claim nothing in her first year. Visana's no-claims bonus means a 20% reduction on supplementary premiums the following year if she doesn't claim.
We placed her on Visana Gesundheitspaket S — the budget bundle. If she claims nothing, next year's premium drops 20%. Over three years of low usage, the savings compound meaningfully.
The no-claims bonus turns healthy years into cheaper years. At 29, that's most of them.
Conor · 41 · Dublin → Solothurn, 2024
Relocating to Solothurn for a pharma role. In Bern and Solothurn cantons, Visana's basic premiums are among the cheapest — regional pricing strength from 150 years of local roots.
We placed him on Visana basic with the Med Direct Hausarzt model. In Solothurn, Visana's Standard basic is cheaper than CSS, Helsana, or SWICA. The regional advantage is real.
In Bern and Solothurn, Visana isn't the cheapest because they cut corners. They're the cheapest because they've been there the longest.
Chiamaka · 35 · Lagos → Zürich, 2024
Wanted a single bundled supplementary product rather than assembling components. Visana's Gesundheitspaket M bundles ambulatory, complementary medicine, dental, and psychotherapy into one contract.
We placed her on Gesundheitspaket M with a 3-year multi-year contract for the 2% discount. The bundling simplicity was worth more to her than CSS's myFlex modularity — she wanted one product, not three.
Modularity is a feature for people who enjoy comparing tiers. For everyone else, the bundle is the answer.
Mikael · 47 · Oslo → Aarau, 2023
Existing Visana supplementary, considering the 5-year multi-year contract for the 3% discount. The trade-off: lower premium vs locked-in commitment. If his employer relocates him, he's still on the hook for the contract term.
We recommended the 3-year contract instead of the 5-year. The 2% discount captures most of the savings with less lock-in risk. For someone on an expat assignment, flexibility is worth the extra 1%.
The 5-year contract saves 3%. The 3-year saves 2%. The difference is one percentage point and two years of optionality.
Nkechi · 63 · Abuja → Lausanne, 2023
Late-career diplomat, arriving at 63. Visana's supplementary entry age is capped at 70 — she made it, but barely. At 63, the age-band premium is steep and the health declaration added an exclusion on a pre-existing condition.
We placed her on Visana Spital Semi-Private. The exclusion was narrower than what Sanitas or CSS offered. The 20% no-claims bonus softens the age-band premium if she stays healthy.
At 63, the entry cap isn't a deadline — it's a countdown. Every year you wait narrows the options.
How we decide
For Visana, the first question is 'which canton?' In Bern and Solothurn, Visana's basic premiums are genuinely competitive — and the no-claims bonus makes supplementary cheaper than it looks. In Zürich, the pricing advantage disappears and we're looking at other insurers. The second question is 'how often do you actually claim?' If the answer is rarely, the 20% bonus is real money. If it's quarterly, the bonus is marketing.
— Robert Kolar · Health insurance advisor
Where Visana sits
Visana isn't the only choice for these scenarios. The pages we'd send you to next:
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