Health insurance cold calls: the legal position and how to report them

Which rules apply to sales calls

In autumn, when the new premiums become known, many people’s phones start ringing: someone promises lower premiums, wants an appointment at your home or asks about your health insurer and your health. Two sets of rules apply to such calls side by side.

The cold-calling ban of the health insurers. In the industry agreement of 22.03.2024, the health insurers committed themselves to refraining from cold calling by their own staff or by external partners. The Federal Council declared this rule binding for all health insurers with effect from 01.09.2024, for basic health insurance in Art. 35b of the Health Insurance Supervision Ordinance (KVAV) with Annex 2 and for supplementary insurance in Art. 190e of the Insurance Supervision Ordinance (AVO) with Annex 7. Cold calling means the first approach to people with whom there is no business relationship, who have not been customers for more than 36 months, who have declared an opt-out or where the contact did not come through a referral from a third party they know. The ban applies regardless of whether your number is in the phone book.

The Federal Act on Unfair Competition (UCA). It applies to all sectors. Anyone who ignores the asterisk marking in the telephone directory acts unfairly; people who are not listed in a directory are treated the same way (Art. 3 para. 1 let. u UCA). Also unfair are sales calls without a displayed number that is listed in the directory (let. v), using data obtained from such calls (let. w) and particularly aggressive sales methods (let. h).

The industry agreement also requires callers to state their name, company and purpose, to use a number that is not withheld, to say where the address and number come from, and not to call before 08:00 or after 20:30, on Saturdays outside 09:00 to 16:00, or on Sundays and public holidays (no. 6 of the agreement). These standards are agreed by contract, but have not been declared binding by the Federal Council.

Why the calls still come

The calls are driven by the intermediary commission. For a switch of basic health insurance, a health insurer may pay at most CHF 70 per insured person, for supplementary insurance up to 16 net monthly premiums per contract concluded, in each case including the costs of purchased addresses and appointments. The goal of the phone call is therefore often an appointment and a supplementary insurance contract. The figures are explained in the article Intermediaries and commissions.

The number of reports is falling. The industry’s reporting office counted 153 reports in 2023, 83 in 2024 and 64 in 2025. Since 01.09.2024, the FOPH has received 67 reports about cold calling, and FINMA 358 (prio.swiss, February 2026). According to prio.swiss, however, cold calls increasingly come from abroad, via call centres or with spoofed numbers.

How to react on the phone

1. Ask for the name, company and principal. Ask which company the person is calling for and on whose behalf, i.e. for which health insurer or which intermediary.
2. Ask where your number comes from. Under the industry agreement, callers must say where your address and telephone number come from.
3. Do not give any health information. Do not answer questions about illnesses, operations or medicines. Health data are particularly sensitive; on the phone you have no control over where they end up. More on this under data protection.
4. No insurance number, no bank details. Nobody needs your insurance number for a serious comparison.
5. Expressly refuse further calls. Say clearly that you do not want any more sales calls. This is an opt-out within the meaning of the industry agreement, and processing data against your expressly declared wishes violates your privacy (Art. 30 para. 2 let. b FADP).
6. Take notes. Date, time, number displayed, company, name of the person, content. Without this information, no office can follow up the case.

Where to report the call

The FOPH names a different office depending on the case. You can inform several offices.

fair-mittler.ch is the reporting office run by the health insurers’ associations for the industry agreement. It mediates and clarifies, but cannot issue binding decisions or impose sanctions (no. 10.2 of the agreement). Sanctions are imposed by the supervisory authorities: if a health insurer disregards the binding rules, the supervisory authority can prohibit it from paying external intermediaries for a maximum of one year (Art. 38a KVAG).

SECO (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs) collects complaints about sales calls despite an asterisk in the directory. On that basis, it can file a criminal complaint with the cantonal public prosecutor’s office, so that you do not have to file a complaint yourself. Intentional unfair competition is punished, upon complaint, with a custodial sentence of up to three years or a monetary penalty (Art. 23 UCA).

What your telephone service provider must do

Telecommunications service providers must combat unfair sales calls (Art. 45a of the Telecommunications Act, TCA). The Ordinance on Telecommunications Services (OTS) sets this out in detail:

• Filter: Your provider must protect you against unfair advertising as far as technically possible and make a suitable means available to you. You can switch it on and off at any time free of charge (Art. 83 para. 1 and 2 OTS).
• Reporting office: Every provider must operate a reporting office for unfair advertising (Art. 83 para. 5 OTS).
• Information about callers: If you show in writing that you have plausibly received unfair sales calls, the provider must tell you the date, time and duration of the calls and, where available, the names and addresses of the subscribers (Art. 82 para. 1 OTS).
• Spoofed numbers: Providers must prevent numbers from being transmitted without the right to use them as soon as they become aware of it (Art. 26a OTS).

You set an asterisk when you are listed in the telephone directory, usually through your provider. If your number is not listed at all, you are protected in the same way as with an asterisk under Art. 3 para. 1 let. u UCA.

Example: from the call to the report

Example with fictitious people. Marco, 52, lives in Bern and is listed in the phone book without an asterisk. At 19:45 on a Tuesday in October, a woman calls him, gives a company name and promises premiums 10 % lower. She wants to come round on Saturday and asks whether Marco has had an operation in the last five years.

If you have already agreed

Appointment made: You can cancel it at any time without giving a reason.

Application for supplementary insurance signed: You can revoke it within 14 days without giving a reason, in writing or in another form that allows proof by text, for example by e-mail (Art. 2a ICA). The right of revocation only applies to supplementary insurance.

Basic health insurance switched: Basic health insurance has no right of revocation under the ICA. If you have signed with a new health insurer and cancelled the old one, you are insured with the new one from the effective date. The benefits are the same, but check the premium, model and deductible. You can only switch again at the next deadline. How cancellation and deadlines work is explained in the article Cancelling health insurance.

Data passed on: Ask the company which data it processes about you and where it got them. The information is free of charge and as a rule arrives within 30 days (Art. 25 para. 2 let. e, para. 6 and 7 FADP).

Common mistakes

• Believing that every call is allowed without an asterisk. The health insurers’ cold-calling ban applies regardless of the phone book.
• Answering health questions on the phone. This information belongs at most in a written application that you submit yourself.
• Not taking notes. Without the date, time and number, no reporting office can do anything.
• Confirming a false consultation record. If the appointment came from a cold call, the confirmation in the record is untrue.
• Switching basic health insurance on the phone. You do not need a caller to switch. The steps are under Switching health insurer, and the health insurers with key figures under Health insurers.

You will find all articles on switching in the Switching health insurer section. How this platform earns money and why it never calls you unsolicited is explained under Disclosure.