Book your first Swiss insurance review Book your insurance review

Holistiq × Expat Savvy

Holistiq treats chronic conditions at the root. We help cover that with Swiss supplementary insurance.

Holistiq treats chronic conditions at the root. We help cover that with Swiss insurance.

Holistiq runs functional-medicine programmes for gut health, hormonal balance, weight, menopause, and the chronic conditions that conventional GP appointments rarely have time for. Most of what Holistiq does — acupuncture, TCM, naturopathy, nutrition counselling, osteopathy — is reimbursable under Swiss supplementary insurance (VVG), but the breadth and the caps vary materially by plan. We read the supplementary contracts on the alternative-medicine dimension specifically so Holistiq clients aren't paying out of pocket for treatments their plan would already cover.

Reviewed by Robert Kolar, Insurance advisor · Last updated 21 May 2026

FINMA F01067278 · Zürich, since 2017 · Independent · Paid by insurers, not you

Client portrait
Client portrait
Client portrait
Client portrait
Client portrait
Client portrait
Client portrait
2,500+ expat households
advised since 2017

What Holistiq treats — six programme areas.

Functional medicine starts from the root cause, not the presenting symptom. Holistiq's clinical model combines online MDs, personalised nutrition, traditional Chinese medicine, and life-coaching layers under one case file. The programme structure below is theirs; the questions below it (which insurance covers what, who's on the recognised register, what's the per-session cap) are ours.

Gut health

Bloating, food intolerance, IBS, SIBO, leaky gut, reflux, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's. Functional-medicine workup before symptom suppression.

Women's health

Cycle disorders, period pain, PCOS, hormonal imbalance — and the downstream complaints (brain fog, anxiety, acne, hair loss) that get treated separately when they shouldn't be.

Menopause

Hot flashes, mood, sleep disruption. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy among the options when indicated.

Weight

Root-cause analysis of metabolic and psychological drivers; peptide therapies prescribed where appropriate. Not crash dieting.

Online MDs + nutrition

Functional-medicine doctors and personalised nutrition counselling — the layer most Swiss GP appointments don't have time for.

Traditional Chinese medicine

Acupuncture, herbal prescriptions, mushroom treatments — integrated into the same case file as the conventional workup.

Programme list summarised from holistiq.ch. The phrase "treat your chronic problems at the root" is theirs.

How Swiss insurance reimburses what Holistiq does.

Two layers to keep apart. KVG basic insurance covers a narrow federal list — five disciplines, MD-delivered only. Everything else routes through VVG supplementary, where each insurer chooses its own breadth, caps, and recognised-therapist register. Below is the practical map across the eight modalities Holistiq clients ask about most.

Modality Typical VVG coverage Watch out for
Acupuncture KVG basic covers it when delivered by an MD with the federal additional-qualification certificate. Outside that lane, VVG supplementary is the route. Most alt-med plans include it. The therapist must sit on the insurer's accepted register — EMR or ASCA for VVG; FMH-acupuncture for KVG.
TCM (herbal, cupping, moxibustion) Broadly recognised under VVG alt-med plans. Chinese herbal therapy by certified MDs is also on the federal KVG list since 2017. Non-MD herbal dispensaries and the herbs themselves are often capped or excluded — read the materials clause.
Naturopathy Covered under VVG alt-med plans where the practitioner holds an EMR or ASCA registration. Caps and per-session limits vary by plan. Some plans only reimburse one or two of the four naturopathy specialisations (TEN, TCM, Ayurveda, homeopathy).
Osteopathy Most VVG alt-med plans cover it. Annual caps and per-session limits vary by plan — Helsana COMPLETA, SWICA Completa Top, CSS myFlex, Sanitas CLASSIC, and Groupe Mutuel Global Medi all have alt-med modules. Practitioner must be GDK-recognised. Some plans require a doctor's referral after the first session.
Homeopathy Classical homeopathy by certified MDs sits on the federal KVG list since 2017. Non-MD homeopathy and remedies sit in VVG. Remedies (the bottles) are often treated separately from consultation fees — check both lines on the policy schedule.
Massage therapy VVG alt-med plans cover medical massage by recognised therapists. Reimbursement ratios and per-session caps vary by plan. Wellness massage (spa-style) is usually excluded; only therapeutic / medical-indication massage qualifies.
Ayurveda Selected insurers reimburse consultations and named treatments under their alt-med supplementary; coverage is narrower than for TCM or osteopathy. Diet plans and herbal preparations are commonly excluded.
Reflexology Covered under VVG alt-med plans where the therapist is EMR or ASCA registered. Many practising reflexologists aren't on the recognised lists — confirm before your first session.

How we help Holistiq clients.

Forty-five minutes, in English, German, or Czech. Robert reads your supplementary policy line by line against the alt-medicine modules at the major Swiss insurers — focused on whether the people you're already seeing at Holistiq are on the recognised register, and whether the cap on your current plan covers the treatment cadence you actually have.

  1. 01

    We listen.

    Five minutes about your Holistiq programme, your treatment cadence, and your existing supplementary plan. Bring the policy schedule (Police) if you have it; we read the line items live.

  2. 02

    We diagnose.

    Whether your current plan covers what you actually use. The age-curve trap on supplementary (cheap at 32, brutal at 55). Whether your Holistiq practitioners are on the insurer's recognised register. The KVG-vs-VVG split for any treatment that touches both.

  3. 03

    We compare.

    Five Swiss insurers on alt-medicine breadth — Helsana COMPLETA / COMPLETA TOP, SWICA Completa Forte / Praevita / Optima, CSS myFlex, Sanitas CLASSIC, Groupe Mutuel Global Medi. Real claim behaviour and recognised-practitioner registers, not brochure features.

Book your first Swiss insurance review.

Free · 45 minutes · In English (or German or Czech) · With Robert.

45 minutes with Robert. Free.

In English · With or

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun

We'll send you a short intake form so we understand your needs before we speak.

Your details

You're booked

Check your email for a calendar invite and a video call link.

Frequently asked — eight questions, calmly answered.

Does Swiss insurance cover Holistiq's treatments?
Most of them, through supplementary, not basic. Since 2017, Article 35 KVG lists five alternative-medicine disciplines on the basic-insurance benefits catalogue: acupuncture, classical homeopathy, anthroposophic medicine, phytotherapy, and traditional Chinese herbal therapy. The catch is that basic-insurance coverage applies only when the treatment is delivered by an MD with the federal additional-qualification certificate. For the rest of what Holistiq offers — non-MD acupuncturists, naturopaths, TCM practitioners, nutrition counselling — meaningful reimbursement comes from supplementary insurance (VVG). The breadth varies by plan and by the recognised-practitioner register the insurer uses.
Which supplementary plans cover alternative medicine?
Five insurers consistently appear in the alt-med category: Helsana (COMPLETA / COMPLETA TOP), SWICA (Completa Forte / Praevita / Optima), CSS (myFlex alternative medicine module), Sanitas (CLASSIC alternative), and Groupe Mutuel (Global Medi). The differences sit less in whether alternative medicine is covered and more in three places: the annual cap (a few hundred francs vs several thousand), which non-MD specialisations are recognised, and whether the practitioner registers used (EMR vs ASCA vs the insurer's own list) match the people you're already seeing at Holistiq.
Do I need a doctor's referral?
Usually not for the first consultation. Most VVG alt-med plans accept direct booking with a recognised therapist, no GP referral required. Some plans introduce a referral requirement for ongoing treatment (often after the first six or twelve sessions) — that's a per-plan rule. The practitioner-recognition register matters more than the referral question: if your therapist isn't on the insurer's list, no referral fixes it.
Can I add supplementary insurance to my existing KVG basic?
Yes. Supplementary insurance (VVG) is fully separate from mandatory basic insurance (KVG). You can choose any insurer for your supplementary plan — it doesn't have to match your basic-insurance provider, and many households deliberately split the two so each lever optimises independently. The only timing constraint is that VVG involves a health declaration, so the application process is unlike the mandatory-acceptance basic switch.
Is the consultation free?
The 45-minute first review is free. Independent insurance advisors in Switzerland are paid by the insurer when a client switches — the consultation itself is free for you. We're FINMA-registered (F01067278) and disclose our compensation under Article 45 VAG. No commitment to switch anything.
How much does supplementary alt-med insurance cost?
It depends materially on age, canton, and the specific module bundle. As a rough orientation, alt-med supplementary modules at the named insurers tend to add a per-month line on top of an existing supplementary policy rather than being sold standalone. Going from no alt-med supplementary to a generous one for an adult under 40 typically lands somewhere in the low-to-mid double-digit francs per month — but the only useful number is the one priced for your specific situation in the review.
How does VVG underwriting work with a pre-existing condition?
VVG applications include a health declaration. The insurer can attach exclusions, charge an age-related surcharge, or decline. The practical implication is that supplementary application is materially easier the younger and healthier you are, and that an existing alt-medicine treatment relationship may be excluded from a new VVG plan if the underlying condition is documented. If you already have a condition under treatment, switching basic insurance is no problem (mandatory acceptance under Art. 4 KVG); switching supplementary is where the calendar matters. We address this trap in the review explicitly.
Can I keep my current basic insurance and only change the supplementary?
Yes. The two contracts move on different cycles and at different insurers if you want. The 30 November basic-insurance cancellation deadline doesn't apply to supplementary — supplementary cancellation rules are governed by Article 35a VVG and the specific contract terms (often three-month notice for end-of-year termination, sometimes multi-year contracts). If you currently have basic and supplementary at the same insurer and only want to optimise alt-medicine coverage, in many cases that's a supplementary-only restructure and your basic stays exactly where it is.

About Holistiq

Holistiq positions itself as shaping the future of healing — a healthier version of healthcare. Organic, personalised and backed by science. The platform brings functional medicine into European practice for chronic conditions where conventional medicine alone falls short — combining different healing systems and taking the time conventional appointments rarely have. Practitioner profiles, transparent pricing, and direct booking are part of the model. The independent-and-curated approach is the one we apply to insurance.

holistiq.ch