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Swiss health insurance deductible: CHF 300 or 2,500?

2 min 48 s Published In English Watch on YouTube

Which deductible (franchise) should you choose for Swiss health insurance? You pay the deductible first, then 10% of costs up to CHF 700 a year. If you rarely see a doctor, a higher deductible usually wins; if you have regular costs, it rarely does.

Jump to a chapter.

  1. 0:00The bill after the doctor
  2. 0:14The short answer
  3. 0:30Deductible, then 10%
  4. 0:51The choices
  5. 1:10Healthy or not: the break-even
  6. 1:39Families: the CHF 1,000 cap
  7. 2:01Pregnancy is different
  8. 2:16What to do now
  9. 2:29Your first Swiss insurance review

The full guide

How to choose your deductible

Also on The family deductible and the CHF 1,000 cap.

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The full transcript.

0:00 The bill after the doctor

Which deductible should you choose for Swiss health insurance: CHF 300, or 2,500? And why did you get a bill after seeing a doctor?

0:14 The short answer

The short answer: it depends on your actual yearly medical costs, not on your appetite for risk. Under CHF 1,000 a year, 2,500 usually wins. Over 3,000, usually 300.

0:30 Deductible, then 10%

Here is where the bill comes from. Your bills for the year add up to CHF 2,000. First, you pay your deductible: 300. Above it, 10%: 170. Your insurer pays the rest. You pay 470.

0:51 The choices

The 10% stops at CHF 700 a year. There are six deductibles, from 300 to 2,500. A higher one lowers your premium, but the law caps the discount: at most CHF 1,540 a year.

1:10 Healthy or not: the break-even

A trap we catch every week: the highest deductible, taken for its discount. In our worked example, an adult in Bern spends about CHF 4,800 a year on physiotherapy and medication. On 2,500, even after the largest discount, that year costs CHF 1,190. On 300, CHF 750: at least CHF 440 less.

1:39 Families: the CHF 1,000 cap

Children are different. Three or more children at the same insurer, on the default deductible of zero, pay at most CHF 1,000 a year together. Split them across insurers, and that cap is gone. Raise each child's deductible to 600, and it rises to about 1,900.

2:01 Pregnancy is different

One exception: pregnancy. Check-ups and the birth come with no deductible and no 10%. And from week 13 until eight weeks after the birth, everything medically necessary is covered in full.

2:16 What to do now

So add up last year's medical bills, and pick the level that fits. You can change it every year: tell your insurer by 30 November, for 1 January.

2:29 Your first Swiss insurance review

If you'd like someone to read your own contracts with you, book your first Swiss insurance review. It's free, 45 minutes, in English, with Robert or Nicole. The link is in the description.

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