Switzerland offers picturesque locations and umpteen general facilities, but it does not offer health insurance in return for the taxes you pay. You are required to buy it. In Switzerland, shopping for health insurance is as easy as shopping for garments, medicines, and books. It is not just easy, and it speeds up the entire buying process as well.
Identify Your Parameters for Health Insurance
You must be clear in what you are looking for in online retail shopping. What parameters you want to include and not include in your insurance plan are essential to consider when buying health insurance online. Some of the key parameters are as follows.
Only Basic or Supplementary Insurance as Well?
Before you decide on this, here are factors to be taken into account. Basic insurance covers you for pretty much all your essential medical needs. You are entitled to doctor consultations, medical investigations, pathological tests, pharmacy requirements, nursing services, maternity care emergency and trauma care, etc. However, these services are provided to you with certain limitations, like you are entitled to a general ward and can see doctors from the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) only. Supplementary insurance upgrades your insurance and facilities you are entitled to. With supplementary insurance, you can exercise choice for doctors—may be your family doctor. You can select wards better than general wards in hospitals.
Better services have a price tag. So, how to know if you need to upgrade your insurance? If your doctor consultations, hospital visits, and medical investigation needs are more than those for a healthy individual, you must opt for supplementary health insurance.
Lower Basic Insurance Premium by 7%
All basic insurance plans provide coverage against accidents. There is a catch here! All employees who serve the organization they work at for a minimum of eight hours a week get an accident cover. It makes sense to exclude accident insurance costs from your basic insurance, which helps you save a good 7% on the premium amount.
Same or Different Insurers for Supplementary Insurance
You can buy both basic and supplementary insurance online from the same or different insurance providers. While no insurance provider in Switzerland can deny giving you basic insurance, no provider can profit from basic insurance. However, when you buy basic and supplementary insurance from the same provider, you pocket discounts. Do not shy away from asking for discounts in such a scenario.
Individual or Family Insurance?
Buying in bulk is always easier on the pocket. In Switzerland, every citizen, ex-pat, or short-term resident must be insured for health. Even a day-old baby must have a health cover. It makes fiscal sense to insure the family and make your insurance plan budget-friendly. When buying online, go for plans that give you discounts on the premium amount and offer the best features for your family as a whole.
Look up Online for Canton Discounts
It is not a centralized health insurance system in Switzerland. Every state, or the canton, has regulations as per its laws. The discounts insurance providers must offer on the premium amount vary from canton to canton. So, look for the discounts you are eligible for and buy insurance online accordingly. You can also save more money by comparing your health insurance online. Refer to the health insurance comparison website in French and Italian.
Ask for Online Quotations from Insurance Providers
Online quotations are free to get. It is possible to get plans personalized upon furnishing your accurate details, such as medical needs, health status, annual income, family size and structure, and canton. After you have received plans and offers from insurance providers, you can easily compare them. Comparison reduces the time you would have otherwise taken to contact insurance providers and ask for quotations by email or post. So, speed up the insurance-buying process and save money as well.
On Family Way?
Your entire maternity expenses are taken care of by your basic insurance plan. Prenatal care and doctor consultations, vaginal or C-section delivery, antenatal medical guidance, and more are covered. You do not get covered for untoward situations before, during, or after delivery, like a baby with abnormal medical conditions. When a baby is born with medical conditions, the baby is not allowed add-on insurance. When on the family way, you are advised to go for extra medical cover in supplementary insurance.
Higher Deductible Lowers Premium
Deductible and premium have an inversely proportional relationship between them. If you go for a higher deductible, a one-time cost per year, you reduce the premium, a recurring expense. The permissible range for the deductible is from CHF 300 to CHF 2,500. However, if your medical needs are more than usual, a higher deductible may not suit you.
Pay a Big Chunk Upfront to Lower Premium
Most insurance providers pass on a good part of the benefit to customers as discounts on the premium amount. The premium amount reduces if you pay a lump sum of the insurance cost upfront. If your income structure allows, it is advisable to go for this term of payment.