Are there disadvantages to switching health insurer? What you lose and what you don’t

What stays the same when you switch health insurer

Basic health insurance is regulated in the same way throughout Switzerland. Every health insurer pays the same statutory benefits, at the same tariffs, with the same co-payment. If you switch insurer, you lose none of this. That is the core of the answer to the question about disadvantages: in basic health insurance, you change the premium, the customer service and the range of models, not your insurance cover.

On top of that, there is the obligation to accept: every health insurer must accept you in its area of activity, no matter how old or how healthy you are (Art. 5 let. i of the Health Insurance Supervision Act, KVAG). It may not use a health questionnaire, impose a reservation or provide for a waiting period. The FOPH states this explicitly in its fact sheet on switching.

The disadvantages that do exist are at the margins: with supplementary insurance, the insurance model, families with several children, unpaid bills and deadlines. The following sections go through them one by one.

No gap, no double deductible

Cover without interruption. The insurance relationship with your current insurer only ends once the new insurer has notified it that you are insured with it without interruption (Art. 7 para. 5 of the Federal Health Insurance Act, KVG). If the new insurer fails to give this notification, it must compensate you for the damage, in particular the difference in premium. If the current insurer prevents the switch, it is liable in the same way (Art. 7 para. 6 KVG). So switching does not create a gap in cover.

Co-payment. If you switch on 1 January, the deductible and retention fee start again anyway. If you switch during the year, for example on 1 July or because you move, the new insurer credits the deductible and retention fee already charged in the same year (Art. 103 para. 4 of the Health Insurance Ordinance, KVV). If nothing has been charged yet, you need proof.

Bills from the old period. What counts is the date of treatment (Art. 103 para. 3 KVV). The current insurer settles treatment received in December, even if the bill only arrives in February. So keep the address and insurance number of your old insurer until all bills have been settled.

Insolvent health insurer. If a health insurer can no longer pay, the Common Institution under the Federal Health Insurance Act covers the costs of the statutory benefits (Art. 18 para. 2 KVG). An insurer’s financial situation is therefore no reason to stay with a more expensive one for fear of benefits not being paid. You can still find the insurers’ key figures and reserves in the health insurer profiles.

Disadvantage 1: supplementary insurance

This is where the biggest real disadvantage lies, and it almost always arises from a mistake. Supplementary insurance is a separate contract under the Insurance Contract Act (ICA). It continues independently of basic health insurance. Your current insurer may not force you to cancel it as well when you switch, and it may not cancel it solely because you switch (Art. 7 para. 7 and 8 KVG). In supplementary health insurance, only the insured person may cancel with ordinary notice anyway (Art. 35a para. 4 ICA).

It becomes a problem if you cancel your supplementary insurance as well so as to have everything with the new insurer. There is no obligation to accept for new supplementary insurance: the new insurer may ask health questions, which you must answer truthfully (Art. 4 ICA), and it may reject you or impose a reservation. If you conceal something, it may cancel the contract (Art. 6 ICA). If you have had supplementary hospital insurance for years and now have pre-existing conditions, cancelling it as well may cost you cover that you can no longer get.

Whether you need both contracts with the same insurer does not depend on the law. Basic health insurance and supplementary insurance may be with different insurers. Before switching, ask your supplementary insurer whether anything changes in terms of premium or conditions if your basic health insurance is with another insurer. How to end supplementary insurance properly is explained in the article Cancelling supplementary insurance.

Disadvantage 2: a model with different rules

In Zurich, the lowest premiums in 2026 were for an HMO model (figures below). Such models with restricted choice of service provider exist as GP, HMO or telemedicine models. In these models, the insurer only pays for services provided or ordered by the designated service providers (Art. 41 para. 4 KVG). If you also switch to such a model when you change insurer, new rules apply: a designated first point of contact, referrals, a list of doctors or practices. Each insurer sets out the detailed rules in the regulations for its model.

This is only a disadvantage if the rules do not suit you, for example if your GP is not on the list for the new model. Check this before switching. There is also a deadline: from a model with restricted choice, you can only switch health insurer at the end of the calendar year (Art. 100 para. 3 KVV). The same applies with an optional deductible (Art. 94 para. 2 KVV). A mid-year switch on 1 July is only possible in the standard model with the standard deductible of CHF 300. An overview of the models is under Insurance models.

Disadvantage 3: children with different health insurers

For families, there is a rule that is often overlooked when switching. If several children of one family are insured with the same insurer, together they pay at most the deductible and the maximum retention fee of one adult (Art. 64 para. 4 KVG). With optional deductibles, the co-payment for all children together is limited to twice the maximum amount per child (Art. 93 para. 3 KVV).

If you spread the children across different insurers because each one individually has the cheapest premium, this cap no longer applies across all children. For healthy children with low costs, this hardly matters. If a child has regular treatment, the joint cap can be worth more than the difference in premium. Calculate both options before you split up the family.

Disadvantage 4: unpaid premiums and missed deadlines

Debts block a switch. As long as premiums, co-payments, default interest or debt enforcement costs for which you have received a reminder are unpaid, you cannot switch health insurer (Art. 64a para. 6 KVG). According to the FOPH, this concerns debts for which you received a reminder by 30 November and which are not paid by 31 December. Your notice of cancellation then has no effect, and you stay with your current insurer for another year. What you can do in this situation is explained in the article Switching with unpaid premiums.

Your notice of cancellation arrives too late. To switch on 1 January 2027, your notice of cancellation must reach your current insurer by Monday, 30.11.2026, at the latest (Art. 7 para. 2 KVG). What counts is receipt, not the postmark. The FOPH recommends sending the notice of cancellation by registered mail or A Mail Plus by mid-November. All dates are under Deadlines, and you can create the letter with the cancellation letter generator.

Premium subsidies. The canton pays the premium subsidy directly to your health insurer (Art. 65 para. 1 KVG). After a switch, it must go to the new insurer. Your canton determines how the changeover works. Check on the first bills from the new insurer whether the subsidy has been deducted, and contact the cantonal office if it has not.

What switching can achieve: figures for 2026

The disadvantages have to be weighed against the premium. Because the benefits are the same, the difference between insurers is pure savings. Premiums 2026, municipality of Zurich (region 1), adults born in 1992, with accident cover, across all insurers and models; source FOPH:

With a CHF 300 deductible, there is a difference of CHF 206.30 per month between the lowest and the highest offer, i.e. CHF 2,475.60 a year, for the same statutory benefits. The lowest offers are GP and HMO models. The FOPH publishes next year’s premiums at the end of September; until they are released, we calculate with the 2026 premiums.

Sample calculation: is switching worthwhile despite supplementary insurance?

Example with fictitious people. Nora, 34, lives in Zurich and has basic health insurance in the standard model with a CHF 300 deductible as well as supplementary hospital insurance with the same insurer. Her basic health insurance costs an assumed CHF 650.00 a month. She is considering switching her basic health insurance to an offer for CHF 580.00, which corresponds to the 2026 median.

Whether the new premium fits your model and your deductible is something you check in the premium calculator. How to go about it is shown in the article Finding the cheapest health insurer.

Special cases

• Ongoing treatment: Even in the middle of therapy, the new insurer may not reject you. Clarify in advance which documents it needs for ongoing cost approvals. More on this in the article Switching during treatment.
• Older insured persons: The obligation to accept applies without an age limit. A health insurer charges all adults in the same premium region, with the same deductible and in the same model the same premium, no matter how old they are; lower premiums only exist for children and young adults (Art. 61 KVG).
• Advice from intermediaries: You do not need an intermediary to switch basic health insurance. Who earns how much from it is explained in the article Intermediaries and commissions.

Common mistakes

• Cancelling supplementary insurance as well. It continues if you do nothing. Only cancel it once a new insurer has accepted you without a reservation.
• Not checking the model. The lowest premium often belongs to a model with restricted choice of physicians. Before switching, check whether your doctor is recognised in the new model.
• Splitting up children without doing the maths. The joint cap on co-payments only applies with the same insurer.
• Overlooking unpaid premiums. Debts for which you have received a reminder block a switch until they are paid in full.
• Relying on the postmark. What counts is receipt by the health insurer by 30 November.

Changing health insurer itself takes a few minutes. All the steps are under Switching health insurer, and all articles on the subject are in the topic section Switching health insurer. How we present premiums is explained under How we calculate.