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Expat Savvy × SIP

International coverage and Swiss-domestic insurance — where each specialist lives

International coverage and Swiss-domestic insurance — where each specialist lives.

Expat Savvy specialises in Swiss-domestic insurance for residents — KVG basic, supplementary, pension and 3a, cross-border situations within Europe. SIP specialises in international private medical insurance, executive worldwide cover, and short-term-assignee policies. Some clients only need one. Some need both. The page below explains how to tell — and how to avoid hedging or paying twice.

Reviewed by Robert Kolar, Insurance advisor · Last updated 5 May 2026

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

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2,500+ expat households
advised since 2017

When SIP makes more sense.

Most expats arriving in Switzerland become Swiss residents subject to the Federal Health Insurance Act (KVG). Mandatory enrolment within three months — basic insurance can't be replaced with an international plan once you're resident, even if your employer offers one. There's a narrow legal exception: five categories under Article 2 of the Swiss Health Insurance Ordinance (KVV) qualify for KVG exemption, and for them, IPMI or international cover is the right structure — not the supplementary layer we work on.

  1. 01

    Diplomats and international-organisation staff.

    UN, ILO, WHO, ICRC, embassies. Identification via FDFA card; the federal exemption is automatic.

  2. 02

    Posted workers under 24 months with an A1 certificate.

    A foreign employer pays social charges in the home country; the A1 certificate documents the posting. Without the formal A1 paperwork, the category doesn't apply — calling yourself 'on a temporary assignment' isn't enough.

  3. 03

    Cross-border workers (Grenzgänger) from Germany, France, Italy, or Austria.

    The right of option (Optionsrecht) must be exercised within three months of taking up Swiss employment. Equivalent coverage in country of residence is the gating condition.

  4. 04

    Students with equivalent home-country coverage, under age 30.

    University-arranged cover or a country-of-residence health-insurance card meeting Swiss equivalence requirements. Cantonal authority confirms eligibility case by case.

  5. 05

    Short-term residents under three months.

    No Wohnsitz, no AHV registration, no KVG obligation. The three-month clock starts at cantonal registration, not arrival.

If you're in one of these categories, the conversation belongs with SIP, not us. We'll route you cleanly.

When you need both — the dual-coverage case.

Some clients are already Swiss residents and pay KVG, but also hold IPMI from a former multinational employer or a private package. The two layers don't conflict; they coordinate.

KVG is mandatory once resident — IPMI sits on top as a global-mobility layer that covers what Swiss-domestic plans typically don't: hospital access in third countries, executive worldwide cover, treatment options Switzerland routes via referral. The split: SIP handles the IPMI side; we handle the KVG, supplementary, and pension/3a side. Together, the household holds full coverage without paying twice for the same service.

We've seen this work cleanly for executives whose corporate package included IPMI but whose Swiss-resident KVG architecture was set up by their employer's HR with default settings — and where a 45-minute review on the Swiss-domestic side surfaced a CHF 50–100/month overspend nobody had revisited. The IPMI was working as designed; the KVG side was on autopilot.

When Swiss-domestic is enough.

The default case for most expats settling in Switzerland: KVG basic plus chosen supplementary covers everything they need — and adding IPMI on top is paying twice. The Swiss federal benefits catalogue under Article 25 KVG is comprehensive; the local hospital network is among the strongest in the world; your existing GP, specialist referral chain, and pharmacy access all sit inside the KVG-funded system.

Unless you have a globally-mobile lifestyle, an executive package where the employer subsidises IPMI, or a tax-residence pattern that splits across countries, the Swiss-domestic stack is the right answer. This is the case we work on — basic insurance, supplementary, pension/3a architecture, cross-border situations within Europe, the four traps that decide whether a household pays the right premium for the right coverage. With Robert on health insurance and Hans on pension and cross-border tax planning.

Book your first Swiss insurance review.

Free · 45 minutes · In English · With Robert or Hans.

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

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How the handoff works.

  1. 01

    We listen.

    What's your residency status, employment context, mobility outlook for the next 24 months?

  2. 02

    We diagnose.

    Whether you're in an Art. 2 KVV opt-out category, an IPMI-keeping situation alongside KVG, or a clean Swiss-domestic case.

  3. 03

    We route.

    If SIP, you talk to SIP. If us, we book you in for the 45-minute review. If both, you get a coordinated plan with both teams.

Frequently asked — the boundary questions.

I'm here on a 6-month assignment — do I have to register for KVG?
Probably yes. The KVG obligation sits on residency, not on assignment length. If you're registered with a Swiss commune, paying AHV, and not on a formal posting under 24 months with an A1 certificate, you're a Swiss resident for KVG purposes — and the three-month enrolment deadline applies. The exception is the posted-worker category under Art. 2 KVV requires the formal A1 social-security certificate from your home-country authority. Six months without an A1 isn't a posting; it's a Swiss residency that triggers KVG. SIP can help if you genuinely qualify; we route there in that case.
Can my international plan replace KVG?
Only if you're in one of the five Art. 2 KVV opt-out categories — diplomats, posted workers under 24 months with A1, cross-border workers from D/F/I/A who exercised Optionsrecht, students under 30 with equivalent cover, short-term residents under three months without Wohnsitz. Outside those categories, an international plan sits alongside KVG, not instead of it. The cantonal authority decides exemption case by case based on documentary proof of equivalent cover. If you might qualify, the conversation belongs with SIP. If you don't, KVG is mandatory and we can help with the basic-and-supplementary structure that fits.
I'm an executive with corporate IPMI — should I keep my KVG too?
Yes, in most cases. The KVG obligation sits on residency, not on whether you have other coverage. Once you're a Swiss resident — taking up employment, registering with your Gemeinde, opening an AHV file — the KVG enrolment is mandatory within three months. Your corporate IPMI doesn't substitute; it supplements. The practical setup most executives end up running is KVG basic at the cheapest cantonal insurer (because the federal benefits catalogue is identical at every insurer under Art. 25 KVG, the cheap one delivers the same care as the expensive one for what KVG covers), with the corporate IPMI handling everything outside that — global hospital access, executive private rooms abroad, full reimbursement on out-of-network specialist visits.
I'm a cross-border worker — do I need Swiss insurance at all?
It depends on whether you exercised the right of option (Optionsrecht). Cross-border workers from Germany, France, Italy, or Austria have a one-time choice within three months of taking up Swiss employment: stay on the home-country statutory health insurance, or enrol in Swiss KVG. The choice is documented; once made, it's binding for the duration of the cross-border employment. If you're outside that three-month window and didn't formally opt out, you're enrolled in Swiss KVG by default. SIP works with cross-border situations on the international side; we work on the Swiss-domestic side if you're enrolled in KVG.
I'm leaving Switzerland — does my IPMI follow, and what happens to my supplementary?
IPMI is portable by design — that's the point of the product. Your SIP plan moves with you across borders. Swiss supplementary (VVG) is contract-based with a Swiss insurer; once you deregister cantonally, the basis for the contract usually ends and you cancel as part of the leaving-Switzerland sequence. KVG basic ends automatically on deregistration. The 3rd-pillar pension money is a separate decision — Hans walks expats through the leaving-Switzerland pension-withdrawal sequence on the same call. If you're leaving with corporate IPMI continuing, the planning conversation is split: SIP on the IPMI continuation, us on the Swiss-side cancellations.
What does SIP cost vs Swiss supplementary?
Different products, different prices, hard to compare directly. Swiss supplementary at the major insurers typically lands in the low-to-mid double-digit francs per month for an adult — the actual figure depends on age, canton, and module bundle. IPMI from SIP and similar specialists is more expensive but delivers something Swiss supplementary doesn't: global hospital access, multi-jurisdiction billing, a higher service tier on planned-treatment access. The honest answer is: SIP is more expensive than Swiss supplementary because the product is broader — and for households that need that breadth, the price reflects coverage they'd otherwise self-pay. For households that don't, Swiss supplementary at a fraction of the cost is the right answer.

For the full technical comparison — what IPMI covers that supplementary doesn't, what supplementary covers that IPMI typically misses, and the household profiles where each saves real money — Robert wrote International insurance vs Swiss KVG — when IPMI fits earlier in the year.

About SIP

Founded in 1997, SIP positions itself as an independent health expert serving globally mobile individuals, families, expats, athletes, and companies. Their offer combines memberships with privileged hospital access, preventive-medicine programmes, medical-records management, and international health insurance for clients seeking worldwide coverage flexibility — fast access to the best medical services worldwide. Independent of the financial incentives inherent in traditional healthcare systems is part of their stated positioning. The fit with us is clean: they specialise in international; we specialise in Swiss-domestic.

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