Finding the cheapest health insurer: comparing correctly in 5 steps

There is no cheapest health insurer for everyone

If you search for “cheapest health insurer”, you expect a name. The honest answer is a calculation: each insurer sets its premiums per canton, premium region and age group (Art. 61 of the Federal Health Insurance Act, KVG), and also per model and deductible. The cheapest insurer in Zurich is not the cheapest in Bern, and the cheapest in the standard model is not the cheapest in the GP model.

The benefits are the same everywhere. In basic health insurance, an insurer may not cover any costs other than those laid down by law (Art. 34 para. 1 KVG). So you are only comparing the price of the same product, plus service and the rules of the model.

Premiums 2026, adults (born in 1991), CHF 300 deductible, with accident cover, cheapest offer per municipality; source FOPH:

In all four municipalities, a cost-saving model is cheaper than the best standard offer, and in each of the four municipalities a different insurer has the cheapest offer. The names only apply to exactly these details and to 2026.

Step by step: finding the cheapest insurer for you

1. Set your municipality. What counts is your municipality of residence, not your postcode. It determines the canton and premium region. In cantons with several regions, the premium between region 1 and region 2 may be at most 10 % or 15 % lower, depending on the canton, and between region 2 and region 3 at most 5 % or 10 % (Art. 61 para. 2bis KVG; FDHA Ordinance on Premium Regions).
2. Check your age group. Children and young adults have lower premiums than adults (Art. 61 para. 3 KVG). Compare each family member separately; the cheapest insurer for your child is not always the cheapest for you.
3. Choose a model. In the standard model, you choose your doctor and therapist freely. In special types of insurance such as the GP, HMO, telemedicine or pharmacy model, you first go to an agreed first point of contact (Art. 41 para. 4 KVG) and pay less. The model finder helps you work out which model fits your everyday life.
4. Choose a deductible. Adults choose between CHF 300, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 and 2,500 (Art. 93 para. 1 of the Health Insurance Ordinance, KVV). A higher deductible (Franchise) lowers the premium, but you pay more of the costs yourself. Always compare insurers with the same deductible.
5. Clarify accident cover and compare. If you are insured against accidents through your employer, you can exclude accident cover (Art. 8 KVG). With these five details, you compare all offers in the premium calculator. The federal premium calculator on Priminfo shows the same data.

Why premiums are so far apart

In the municipality of Zurich, there were 128 offers in 2026 for adults with a CHF 300 deductible and accident cover. The cheapest cost CHF 517.70, the median CHF 580.00 and the most expensive CHF 724.00 per month (premiums 2026, municipality of Zurich, region 1; source FOPH). The difference between the cheapest and the most expensive offer is CHF 206.30 per month or CHF 2,475.60 a year, for the same statutory benefits.

Three reasons explain most of the differences:

• Model. Cost-saving models may be cheaper because they save costs. However, the insurer may only reduce the premium for cost differences attributable to the model, not for a healthier pool of insured persons (Art. 101 para. 2 KVV). In Zurich, the cheapest standard offer in 2026 was CHF 605.20 and the cheapest GP or HMO offer CHF 517.70.
• Insurer. Each insurer calculates its own premiums, based on its own costs, reserves and insured persons. The FOPH approves the premiums but does not set them.
• Deductible. With a CHF 2,500 deductible, the cheapest offer in Zurich in 2026 cost CHF 389.40 instead of CHF 517.70 with a CHF 300 deductible (both HMO; source FOPH).

A premium comparison is therefore worthwhile every year. The cheapest insurer in one year may raise its premiums more than others the next year.

Sample calculation: the cheapest premium is not always the cheapest solution

Example with fictitious persons. Jonas is 35, lives in Zurich and wants to switch to the HMO model. He is torn between a CHF 300 and a CHF 2,500 deductible, each with the cheapest offer.

The calculation shows the break-even point, not a recommendation: no one knows for certain how high your costs will be next year. You can calculate with your own figures in the deductible calculator.

More than the price: service and key figures

Because the benefits are the same, what matters besides the premium is mainly how an insurer works: how quickly it reimburses invoices, how you can reach it, whether there is an app and which rules apply in the cost-saving model. Then there are key figures such as reserves and administrative costs. You can find key figures for each insurer in the health insurer profiles.

A comparison is only as good as its sorting. Websites that create rankings with price comparisons in return for an economic interest count as insurance intermediaries (Art. 182a para. 2 of the Insurance Supervision Ordinance, AVO). Our premium calculator sorts by premium, never by remuneration, and shows all offers without asking for contact details. How we are financed is set out under Disclosure, and how we calculate under How we calculate.

Special cases

• Children and young adults. They have their own, lower premiums (Art. 61 para. 3 KVG). Compare separately for each child; siblings with the same insurer together pay at most the co-payment of one adult (Art. 64 para. 4 KVG).
• Supplementary insurance with your current insurer. You can switch basic health insurance and keep your supplementary insurance. Your old insurer may not cancel it because you switch (Art. 7 para. 8 KVG). However, some insurers only sell supplementary insurance together with their basic health insurance; the general terms and conditions are decisive.
• Ongoing treatment. The new insurer must accept you for basic health insurance without health questions (Art. 5 let. i of the Health Insurance Supervision Act, KVAG). If a treatment requires cost approval, submit a new request to the new insurer.
• Outstanding premiums. If you have received a reminder, you can only switch once everything is paid (Art. 64a para. 6 KVG).

Common mistakes

• Looking for “the” cheapest insurer. The cheapest insurer only exists for a specific municipality, age group, model and deductible.
• Comparing different deductibles. An offer with a CHF 2,500 deductible is always cheaper than one with CHF 300. Compare insurers with the same deductible and decide on the deductible separately.
• Not reading the model rules. If you do not follow the rules of the GP, HMO or telemedicine model, you risk the insurer not covering benefits. Read the model conditions before you sign up.
• Paying for accident cover twice. If you are insured against accidents through your employer, you can exclude accident cover from your health insurance.
• Missing the deadline. Your notice of cancellation must have reached your current insurer by 30 November (Art. 7 para. 2 KVG). The deadline calculator shows the dates.

What to check step by step after receiving your premium letter is shown in the premium increase checklist. Whether switching has disadvantages is explained in the article Disadvantages of switching health insurer. The switching process is set out under Switching health insurer, and all articles on the subject are in the topic area Switching health insurer.