Retired: reinstating accident cover and reviewing supplementary insurance

What changes in your accident cover when you retire

As long as you are employed, your employer insures you under the Federal Act on Accident Insurance (UVG). If you work for that employer for at least 8 hours per week, this also applies to accidents in your free time (Art. 13 UVV). Many employees have therefore excluded accident cover from their health insurance and pay a lower premium.

When you retire, your salary stops and so does accident insurance through your employer. From then on, your health insurer’s basic health insurance is responsible for accidents. This happens automatically, so you are never without cover. However, three things change: who pays, what you bear yourself and how high your premium is.

At the same time, retirement is a good moment to review your supplementary insurance policies. Some were provided through your employer’s collective contract, while others no longer suit your daily life.

Step by step: reinstating accident cover

1. Check your policy three months in advance. Your policy shows whether accident cover is included or excluded. If it says “without accident cover”, you need to notify your insurer.
2. Note your last day of salary. What counts is the last day on which you were entitled to at least half your salary, not the date on your pension decision. Daily allowances that replace your salary count as salary.
3. Work out when extended cover ends. Accident insurance continues until the 31st day after that day. This period is called extended cover.
4. Wait for your employer’s letter. Before you leave, your employer must inform you in writing that you have to notify your health insurer (Art. 10 para. 1 of the Federal Health Insurance Act, KVG).
5. Notify your health insurer. Within one month of receiving this information, you report the end of UVG cover to your insurer (Art. 11 para. 2 KVV). A short letter or a message in the customer portal with the end date is enough.
6. Check your new premium. The insurer reinstates accident cover and sends you a new policy. Your premium rises by the accident share.
7. Review your supplementary insurance and your insurer. Compare the premiums “with accident cover” in the premium calculator. You can switch basic health insurance on 1 January if your notice of cancellation reaches the insurer by 30 November (Art. 7 para. 2 KVG); the deadline calculator shows the dates.

The legal rules in detail

When your employer’s accident insurance ends

Under Art. 3 para. 2 UVG, insurance ends on the 31st day after the day on which entitlement to at least half your salary ends. If your salary ends on 30 June, you are insured through your employer up to and including 31 July.

The accident insurer must offer you the option of extending cover by up to six months by special agreement (Art. 3 para. 3 UVG). This can be a bridge if you are planning a longer trip shortly after retiring. You must take out this extended cover by agreement before the extended cover period ends; you can get the premium and the form from your employer’s accident insurer.

When your health insurer takes over

As soon as accident cover under the UVG ends in whole or in part, accidents are covered by basic health insurance by law (Art. 8 para. 2 KVG). You do not need to apply for this. Your health insurer continues to pay in any case for accidents that it already covered before the exclusion (Art. 8 para. 3 KVG).

Notification is nevertheless mandatory. If you fail to notify it, the insurer may claim the premium share for accident cover plus default interest, from the end of UVG cover until the day it finds out (Art. 10 para. 2 KVG). If your employer did not inform you, the insurer can direct this claim at your employer.

What reinstating accident cover costs

The insurer may only reduce the premium by the share for accident cover, at most by 7 % (Art. 91a para. 4 KVV). Conversely, this means that if accident cover is reinstated, your premium rises by this share. Nothing more than the difference between your insurer’s “with accident cover” and “without accident cover” premiums is added.

Figures: premium with and without accident cover in 2026

Basic health insurance does not become more expensive with age. The law only provides for lower premiums for children and young adults; all other insured persons pay the same premium with the same insurer, in the same model, with the same deductible and at the same place of residence (Art. 61 paras 1 and 3 KVG). When you retire, your premium therefore only changes because accident cover is reinstated.

Premiums 2026, municipality of Zurich (region 1), adults, monthly premiums for all 128 offers; source FOPH:

The values “with” and “without accident cover” do not necessarily come from the same offer; the difference shows the order of magnitude. With your own insurer, the difference is capped at 7 % of the premium, i.e. at most CHF 40.60 per month on CHF 580.00. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) publishes the following year’s premiums at the end of September; until they are released, we calculate with the 2026 premiums.

Sample calculation: an accident shortly after retirement

Example with fictitious people. Ruth, 64, lives in Zurich and has basic health insurance with a CHF 2,500 deductible, so far without accident cover. Her last day of salary is 30.06.2026. Extended cover runs up to and including 31.07.2026. From 01.08.2026, her health insurer is responsible for accidents.

For adults, the retention fee is capped at CHF 700 per year (Art. 103 para. 2 KVV); with a CHF 2,500 deductible, the co-payment from the deductible and retention fee is therefore at most CHF 3,200 per year, plus the hospital contribution of CHF 15 per day (Art. 104 KVV). Whether a lower deductible works out for you in retirement is a calculation with your own costs, not a question of age. The deductible calculator shows the break-even point.

Special cases

You continue working after retirement

The UVG has no age limit: all employees working in Switzerland are compulsorily insured (Art. 1a para. 1 UVG). If you work for one employer for at least 8 hours per week, you are also insured against non-work-related accidents and can keep accident cover excluded. Below 8 hours, only work-related accidents and accidents on the way to work are insured (Art. 13 UVV). In that case, you need your health insurer’s accident cover. If you have several small part-time jobs, each job counts separately.

Early retirement and unemployment before retirement

The same applies to early retirement: extended cover begins when your entitlement to salary ends. If you receive unemployment benefits before your pension, you are insured under the UVG through unemployment insurance during this period (Art. 1a para. 1 UVG). When this entitlement ends, unemployment insurance must remind you to notify your health insurer (Art. 10 para. 1 KVG).

Moving abroad

If you move abroad after retiring, your health insurance depends on your new country of residence. The article Pensioners abroad explains what applies.

Collective insurance through your employer

Some insurance policies were provided through your employer’s collective contract, such as a daily sickness allowance or supplementary insurance on preferential terms. When you leave, you drop out of this contract. For daily allowance insurance under the KVG, you have the right to transfer to the insurer’s individual insurance, without new reservations and at your previous age of entry; you exercise this right within three months of being notified (Art. 71 KVG). A daily allowance replaces earned income; if you no longer have earned income, check whether you still need it. For supplementary insurance under the Insurance Contract Act (ICA), the general terms and conditions of the collective contract determine whether and how you can transfer. What counts is the general terms and conditions and the information from your insurer.

Individual supplementary insurance policies

Your own supplementary insurance policies, for example for a semi-private hospital ward, continue unchanged when you retire. Whether accidents are included is set out in your policy and the general terms and conditions. The article Supplementary insurance from 60 explains whether to keep, adjust or cancel supplementary insurance in retirement. Before cancelling, bear in mind: new supplementary insurance at an older age involves a health questionnaire.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting to notify your insurer. You are automatically insured, but the insurer may claim the accident share retroactively, plus default interest.
• Calculating from the start of your pension instead of your last day of salary. The 31 days begin after the last day on which you were entitled to at least half your salary.
• Asking about extended cover by agreement too late. An extension of up to six months is only possible before the extended cover period ends.
• Keeping accident cover excluded with a small part-time job. Below 8 hours per week for one employer, you are not insured under the UVG in your free time.
• Cancelling supplementary insurance too hastily. You often only get cancelled supplementary insurance back later after a health assessment.

You can find the lowest premium for the same statutory benefits by comparing offers “with accident cover”; the article Health insurance for pensioners explains how to do this. Key figures and contact channels for the insurers are in the health insurer profiles, and the page Switching health insurer shows how a switch works. You will find all topics relating to retirement in the section Retirement and old age.