Continued accident cover

What is continued accident cover?

Continued cover is the statutory transitional protection provided by compulsory accident insurance under the Accident Insurance Act (UVG). If you are employed, your employer insures you against work-related accidents and, if you work at least eight hours a week, also against non-work-related accidents. This protection does not stop on your last working day, but continues for another 31 days. This period is called continued cover.

For you as a person with health insurance, continued cover matters because it determines who pays for an accident. During continued cover, the accident insurer pays, with no deductible and no retention fee. After that, your health insurer steps in, with the normal co-payment of basic health insurance. If you have excluded accident cover from your health insurance, you must therefore have it included again in good time.

Continued cover mainly concerns non-work-related accident insurance, because once your job ends there are no more work-related accidents. It should not be confused with continued cover in private insurance, for example in liability insurance. This entry is only about accident insurance under the UVG.

How it works

Continued cover does not start when your contract ends, but on the last day on which you are entitled to at least half of your salary. The 31 days are counted from the following day. Your insurance ends on the 31st day.

The ordinance sets out exactly what counts as salary:

• Counts as salary: salary subject to old-age and survivors’ insurance contributions, daily allowances from accident, military and invalidity insurance, daily allowances from health insurers and private insurers that replace continued payment of salary, compensation under the Income Compensation Act and usual family allowances.
• Does not count as salary: severance payments when the employment relationship ends, as well as bonuses, Christmas bonuses, profit shares, loyalty bonuses and long-service awards.

So if you are ill when your job ends and receive a daily allowance from daily sickness allowance insurance, your accident insurance continues for as long as this daily allowance is paid. The 31 days only begin when it ends.

A separate rule applies to unemployed people: they are insured against accidents while they receive unemployment benefit. Their insurance ends on the 31st day after the day on which they last met the eligibility conditions or received benefit.

Legal basis

Art. 3 para. 2 UVG states that insurance ends on the 31st day after the day on which the entitlement to at least half of the salary ends and, for unemployed people, on the 31st day after they last received benefit. Art. 3 para. 3 UVG requires the insurer to offer an extension by agreement of up to six months.

Art. 7 of the Accident Insurance Ordinance (UVV) sets out which payments count as salary (para. 1) and which do not (para. 2). Art. 13 UVV states that part-time employees are only insured against non-work-related accidents if they work at least eight hours a week for the same employer.

For health insurance, Art. 8 para. 2 of the Federal Health Insurance Act (KVG) applies: accidents are covered by basic health insurance as soon as accident cover under the UVG ends in full or in part. Art. 10 KVG requires your employer to inform you in writing when you leave that you must tell your health insurer that your cover is ending. If you do not, the insurer can claim the accident component of the premium retroactively, plus default interest.

Example: three situations in 2026

The table shows when continued cover ends in three typical cases. The calculation follows Art. 3 para. 2 UVG: 31 days from the day after the last day of entitlement to salary.

If you have a CHF 2,500 deductible in basic health insurance, you pay up to CHF 3,200 yourself for an accident after continued cover ends (deductible plus a retention fee of no more than CHF 700). With cover under the UVG, you pay CHF 0.

What this means for you

Work out your end date as soon as you know when your entitlement to salary ends. Then proceed as follows:

1. New job within 31 days? If it starts before continued cover ends and you work there at least eight hours a week, you are insured without a gap.
2. A gap ahead? Decide before the end date whether to take out extended accident insurance. Ask your employer’s accident insurer about the premium and the form.
3. Inform your health insurer. Tell your insurer that your cover under the UVG is ending. It will include accident cover again. Your premium will rise as a result, because the accident component is added back.

You can see how big the difference is between premiums with and without accident cover in the premium calculator. The exclude accident cover tool shows whether excluding it is worthwhile for you. You will find your insurer’s contact details in the profiles under health insurers.

Common mistakes

• Calculating from the end of the contract. What counts is the end of the entitlement to salary. During unpaid leave, your protection ends even though you are still employed.
• Counting the severance payment. A severance payment when your job ends does not extend continued cover.
• Forgetting to inform your health insurer. Your insurer covers the accident from the first day after continued cover ends, but can claim the accident component of the premium retroactively, plus default interest.
• Asking about extended cover too late. It must be taken out before continued cover ends.

You will find more terms on work and accidents in the glossary.