Double insurance

What is double insurance?

Double insurance means that the same risk is covered for the same period by more than one insurer. The Insurance Contract Act (ICA) calls this multiple insurance. In everyday language it is often also called over-insurance, because you pay for more cover than you can receive in the event of a loss.

In health insurance, you need to distinguish between three areas:

• Basic health insurance. There is no double insurance here. Every person resident in Switzerland has basic health insurance with exactly one insurer. When you switch, the old insurance ends only when the new insurer reports that cover continues without interruption.
• Supplementary insurance. Double insurance is possible here and does occur, for example if you have private supplementary hospital insurance and receive similar cover through a collective contract, or if you did not cancel your old supplementary insurance after switching insurer.
• Accidents. Employees are insured against accidents through their employer under the Accident Insurance Act (UVG). Your health insurer’s accident cover would then be duplicated; you can have it excluded.

Related to double insurance, but not the same thing, is overcompensation. The rules on overcompensation ensure that, when you receive benefits from several social insurers, you do not receive more in total than your loss.

How it works

Under the ICA, there is a clear procedure for multiple insurance:

1. Duty to notify. If you find that the same risk is covered by two insurers and the sums insured together exceed the insured value, you must inform all insurers without delay, in writing or in another form that allows proof by text.
2. Right to cancel. If you did not know about the multiple insurance when you took out the later contract, you can cancel that contract within four weeks of discovering it.
3. Sharing the loss. Each insurer is liable in proportion to its sum insured relative to the total of all sums insured. So you receive compensation for the loss no more than once.
4. Premium. Each insurer is entitled to the full agreed premium. Double cover therefore costs you twice as much without giving you more.

If you deliberately fail to notify the insurers, or take out multiple insurance in order to gain an unlawful advantage, you risk the insurers no longer being bound by the contract.

These rules apply to indemnity insurance, which reimburses an actual loss, for example treatment costs. Fixed-sum insurance pays an agreed amount regardless of the loss, such as a fixed daily hospital allowance. The insurer must tell you before you sign whether a contract is indemnity or fixed-sum insurance.

Legal basis

For supplementary insurance, the Insurance Contract Act (ICA) governs multiple insurance in Art. 46b and 46c. Under Art. 46b para. 1 ICA, multiple insurance exists if the same interest is insured against the same risk and for the same period with more than one insurance company in such a way that the sums insured together exceed the insured value; the policyholder must inform all insurers of this without delay. Art. 46b para. 2 ICA grants a right to cancel within four weeks of discovery, para. 3 governs the consequences of deliberately failing to notify, and under para. 4 each insurer is entitled to the full premium. Art. 46c para. 1 ICA divides the loss in proportion to the sums insured. Under Art. 3 para. 1 let. b ICA, the insurer must state before the contract is concluded whether it is fixed-sum or indemnity insurance; Art. 96 ICA governs fixed-sum insurance.

In basic health insurance, Art. 7 para. 5 KVG prevents double insurance: the insurance relationship with the previous insurer ends only when the new insurer has notified it that the person is insured with it without interruption. If the new insurer fails to give this notification, it must compensate you for the loss, in particular the difference in premium.

For accidents, Art. 8 KVG allows you to have accident cover excluded if you are fully insured under the UVG. Under Art. 13 of the Accident Insurance Ordinance (UVV), part-time employees who work at least eight hours a week for one employer are also insured against non-work-related accidents. If benefits from the health insurer coincide with similar benefits from accident, military or disability insurance, the latter take precedence (Art. 110 KVV). Art. 69 ATSG and Art. 122 KVV prevent overcompensation.

Example: contribution towards glasses under two supplementary insurance policies

Laura is 33. She has supplementary outpatient insurance with insurer A, which includes a contribution towards glasses of up to CHF 200 per year. Through her employer’s collective contract, she gets a second supplementary outpatient insurance policy with insurer B, also with up to CHF 200. She buys glasses for CHF 300. The contract values are assumptions for illustration; we assume that both contracts are indemnity insurance.

What this means for you

Double insurance costs money without providing more protection. This is how to find it:

1. Put all your policies side by side. Check private supplementary insurance, your employer’s collective contracts and cover from credit cards or travel insurance. Overlaps are common for hospital, glasses, cover abroad and accidents.
2. Check your accident cover. If you work at least eight hours a week for the same employer, you can have your health insurer’s accident cover excluded. If you leave the job, you must include it again.
3. Tidy up after switching insurer. When you switch basic health insurance, supplementary insurance with the old insurer remains in place unless you cancel it. You can create a cancellation letter under Cancellation letter.
4. Clarify your needs. The needs check helps you work out which supplementary cover you really need.

You can compare basic health insurance premiums in the premium calculator and find the insurers under Health insurers. More on contracts through your employer can be found under collective insurance.

Common mistakes

• Cancelling your old supplementary insurance too early or not at all. Only cancel once the new insurer has accepted you, but then do so in time so that double cover does not remain in place.
• Believing that paying twice means receiving twice. With indemnity insurance, you receive compensation for the loss no more than once.
• Failing to notify the insurers. The ICA requires you to report multiple insurance without delay.
• Continuing to pay for accident cover. If you are fully insured under the UVG through your employer and do not exclude accident cover, you pay a premium for cover that will hardly ever be used.

We explain how we build examples under How we calculate.