Insuring your family properly: the checklist for parents

How a family is insured

In Switzerland, there is no family policy in basic health insurance. Each person has their own contract, and each chooses their own insurer, model and deductible. This makes things more work, but it is also a way to save: the cheapest insurer for the parents is not necessarily the cheapest for the children.

Legal basis: Art. 61 para. 3 and Art. 64 para. 4 of the Federal Health Insurance Act (KVG), Art. 93, 103 and 104 KVV, Art. 8 KVG.

On top of this there is voluntary supplementary insurance under the Insurance Contract Act (ICA), to which other rules apply: health questions, reservations, separate notice periods. The checklists below arrange everything by stage of life and through the year.

Checklist for pregnancy

• Know the benefits. Basic health insurance pays for check-ups, ultrasound scans, the birth, the midwife and breastfeeding advice without a deductible or retention fee; from the 13th week until 8 weeks after the birth, this applies to all benefits (Art. 64 para. 7 KVG). Details in the article Pregnancy and health insurance.
• Decide on supplementary insurance for your child. After the birth, the insurer may ask health questions about the child (Art. 4 ICA). Find out beforehand which insurers accept children before birth without a health check, and up to when.
• Compare basic health insurance for your child. You choose the insurer, model and children’s deductible freely; the parents’ insurer is not compulsory.
• Check the mother’s deductible for the year of the birth. Most costs around the birth are exempt; a lower deductible is therefore not automatically worthwhile.

Checklist after the birth

• Register your child within 3 months. Basic health insurance then applies retroactively from birth (Art. 3 para. 1 and Art. 5 para. 1 KVG). The procedure is shown in the article Insuring your baby.
• Report the birth to the insurer with which the child is registered, with name and date of birth.
• Check the statements. Up to 56 days after the birth, no benefit of the mother’s basic health insurance may trigger a deductible or retention fee.
• Involve the IV if there is a congenital disorder. For recognised congenital disorders, invalidity insurance pays until the age of 20 is reached (Art. 13 IVG). More in the article Congenital disorders and the IV.
• Recheck the premium subsidy. With one more child, the household size changes. For lower and middle incomes, the canton reduces children’s premiums by at least 80 % (Art. 65 para. 1bis KVG). The rules of your canton are under Premium subsidy.

Checklist every autumn

The FOPH publishes next year’s premiums at the end of September. Your insurer must notify you of them at least two months in advance (Art. 7 para. 2 KVG). Then go through the following for each person:

• Compare premiums. Same benefits, different premium: compare each family member in the premium calculator.
• Check the model. GP, HMO or telemedicine models are cheaper than the standard model. You can switch into such a model at any time, but only back out at the end of the year (Art. 100 KVV). The model finder shows which one suits you.
• Check each person’s deductible. You choose a higher deductible by the end of the year with effect from 1 January, a lower one by 30 November (Art. 94 KVV).
• Keep siblings together. Several children with the same insurer together pay at most the co-payment of one adult (Art. 64 para. 4 KVG). How much this brings is shown in the article Saving on children’s premiums.
• Cancel. The notice of cancellation of basic health insurance must reach the current insurer by 30 November; send it by registered mail by mid-November. You can create the letter with the cancellation letter generator.
• Treat supplementary insurance separately. Switching basic health insurance is no reason to cancel supplementary insurance; nor may the insurer cancel it for that reason (Art. 7 para. 7 and 8 KVG). The deadlines in the general terms and conditions apply to supplementary insurance.

Checklist for life events

• A parent starts a new job. If you work at least 8 hours a week for one employer, you are insured against non-work-related accidents through the employer (Art. 13 para. 1 UVV). You can then suspend your health insurer’s accident cover in writing, at the earliest from the following month (Art. 8 KVG, Art. 11 para. 1 KVV). The premium falls by at most 7 % (Art. 91a para. 4 KVV).
• Job loss or workload below 8 hours. If UVG cover ends, you must inform your insurer within one month of being informed by your employer (Art. 11 para. 2 KVV). Otherwise, it can claim the accident premium retroactively with default interest (Art. 10 para. 2 KVG).
• Moving. The premium depends on where you live (Art. 61 para. 2 KVG). Report your new address; in a different premium region, the whole family’s premium changes.
• Separation or divorce. Parents are jointly and severally liable for their children’s premiums until the children come of age; one parent owes them alone if the other proves that they pay maintenance that includes the premiums (Art. 61a KVG). Agree who receives the invoices.
• Your child starts an apprenticeship. If they work at least 8 hours a week for the company training them, they are insured against accidents under the UVG, and the health insurer’s accident cover can be suspended.
• Your child turns 19. From the year after their 18th birthday, the young adult premium and the adult deductible apply. Review deductible and model again.

What basic health insurance costs for a family

Premiums 2026, municipality of Bern (region 1); adults born in 1990 with a CHF 2,500 deductible without accident cover, children with a CHF 0 deductible and accident cover; source FOPH:

For this family, there is a difference of CHF 526.60 a month, or CHF 6,319.20 a year, between the lowest and the highest offer, for the same statutory benefits. The FOPH publishes next year’s premiums at the end of September; until they are released, we calculate with the 2026 premiums.

Sample calculation: a family in Bern goes through the checklist

Example with fictitious people. Katrin and Jan, both 36, live in Bern with their children Lea (4) and Tim (7). All four are with the same insurer, at premiums equal to the medians in the table, CHF 1,192.40 a month. Katrin has started a job with 20 hours a week, Jan works full time; both are insured against accidents under the UVG and have already suspended accident cover.

Whether this is worthwhile for a family depends on whether it can live with the rules of the model. The calculation shows the order of magnitude, not a recommendation.

Common mistakes

• Insuring everyone with the parents’ insurer without comparing. The insurer does not have to be the same for everyone; only the cap for siblings requires the children to be together.
• Paying for accident cover twice. If you are insured under the UVG, you can suspend it and save up to 7 % on the premium.
• Not reporting the end of UVG cover. The insurer then claims the accident premium retroactively with default interest.
• Sending the notice of cancellation too late. It must be with the insurer on 30 November, not just posted.
• Not checking the premium subsidy. For children, it is at least 80 % for lower and middle incomes.

You can find key figures and contact options for the insurers in the health insurer profiles. All articles on children and families are in the topic area Family and children.