Young adults

What are young adults?

In health insurance, young adults are one of the three age groups in basic health insurance. This group includes insured persons who are 19 to 25 years old on 31 December of the year in question. Younger people are children, older people are adults aged 26 and over.

The group matters for the premium. The law requires young adults to pay less than adults but more than children. A separate premium therefore applies to young adults, between the children’s premium and the adults’ premium. Each insurer sets the size of the discount itself.

When it comes to the co-payment, however, young adults are treated as adults. The deductible is at least CHF 300 and at most CHF 2,500, and the retention fee is 10% up to a maximum of CHF 700 a year. When you move from the children’s group into this group, the children’s deductible of CHF 0 therefore no longer applies.

The age range of 19 to 25 only applies to basic health insurance under the Federal Health Insurance Act (KVG). Supplementary insurance under the Insurance Contract Act (ICA) has its own age levels, which each insurer sets in its tariff.

How it works

What counts is the year of birth. Anyone born in 2007 turns 19 in 2026 and pays the young adult premium from 1 January 2026, even if their birthday is not until December. Anyone born in 2001 pays this premium for the last time in 2026 and the adult premium from 1 January 2027.

Insurers may offer young adults different optional deductibles and different deductible discounts from those for adults aged 26 and over. The levels themselves are the same: CHF 300, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 and 2,500.

The lower premium is partly financed through risk equalisation. In risk equalisation, insurers receive relief for young adults: the relief amounts to 50% of the difference between the average costs of all adults and those of young adults. It is paid for through higher levies for insured persons aged 26 and over.

Two further rules apply to young adults in education:

• No hospital contribution. For a hospital stay, the contribution of CHF 15 per day does not apply.
• Premium subsidy. On low and middle incomes, the canton must reduce the premium by at least 50%. The canton decides who counts as having a low or middle income. You can read more about this under premium subsidy.

Anyone who is fully insured against accidents by an employer under the UVG, for example after an apprenticeship, can have the accident cover in basic health insurance suspended. The premium then falls by the accident share, by at most 7%.

Legal basis

Art. 61 para. 3 KVG obliges insurers to set a lower premium for children and young adults than for other insured persons. The age limit is set out in Art. 16a para. 1 KVG: young adults are insured persons who are 19 to 25 years old on 31 December of the year in question. Para. 2 governs the 50% relief in risk equalisation, and para. 3 its financing. Art. 91 para. 3 of the Health Insurance Ordinance (KVV) specifies that the age groups are graded by year of birth.

Art. 93 para. 1 KVV allows different optional deductibles for adults and young adults. Art. 104 para. 2 let. b KVV exempts young adults in education from the hospital contribution. Art. 65 para. 1bis KVG requires a premium subsidy of at least 50% for young adults in education on low and middle incomes. Art. 64 para. 1bis and Art. 64a para. 7bis KVG and Art. 105l para. 2bis KVV protect people who have come of age from the consequences of arrears from their childhood. Art. 8 KVG and Art. 91a para. 4 KVV govern the suspension of accident cover.

Example: Lea turns 26

Lea was born in 2001 and lives in the city of Bern. In 2026 she is 25 and pays the young adult premium for the last time. The table shows what changes when she moves to the adult premium. Basis: premiums 2026, municipality of Bern (region 1), with accident cover, median of all offers; source FOPH. For adults, the 2026 premiums for a person born in 1999 are used, because the 2027 premiums have not yet been released.

Deductible	Young adults (born 2001)	Adults (born 1999)	Difference per month
CHF 300	CHF 461.80	CHF 609.30	CHF 147.50
CHF 2,500	CHF 335.60	CHF 482.70	CHF 147.10

All insurers grant the discount for young adults, but at different levels. The premium calculator shows each insurer’s premiums for your year of birth; you can find an overview of the insurers under health insurers.

What this means for you

The years between 19 and 25 bring several premium jumps and often your first policy of your own. These points will help:

1. Compare again at 19. When you move out of the children’s premium, the premium rises sharply and the children’s deductible of CHF 0 no longer applies. Until then, the children’s premium calculator helps you compare; from 19 you compare in the premium calculator. The move does not give you an extraordinary right to cancel; you switch on the normal dates.
2. Check your deductible. If you are healthy and have some savings, a higher deductible saves you premium. If an expensive year could put you in difficulty, stay at a lower level.
3. Suspend accident cover if you are employed. With full accident insurance through your employer, you do not pay the accident share twice. If the job ends, tell your insurer.
4. Apply for a premium subsidy if you are in education. The canton sets the rules and deadlines.
5. Compare again at 26. The premium rises once more. Cancel for the new year by 30 November; all dates are listed under deadlines.

If you come to Switzerland from abroad to study, you can find the special rules under international students.

Common mistakes

• Going by your birthday instead of your year of birth. The new premium always applies from 1 January of the year in which you turn 19 or 26.
• Wanting to keep the children’s deductible. From 19, a deductible of at least CHF 300 applies.
• Paying for accident cover twice. If you are fully insured under the UVG through your employer, you can suspend it in basic health insurance.
• Not reinstating accident cover after a job ends. If your employer’s accident insurance ends, the insurer must be told; otherwise it can claim back the premium share plus default interest.
• Hoping for a special right to cancel when you change age group. The FOPH states that moving from the children’s to the adults’ premium does not give an extraordinary right to cancel.

We explain how we calculate premiums and medians under How we calculate.