Moving house and health insurance: new canton, new premium region

Why your place of residence determines the premium

In basic health insurance, you do not pay a premium according to your income or health, but according to the insurer, model, deductible, age group, accident cover and place of residence. Your place of residence has a double effect: every insurer grades its premiums according to the costs in the canton, and what counts is the insured person’s place of residence (Art. 61 para. 2 of the Federal Health Insurance Act, KVG). Within a canton, it may additionally grade them by premium region (Art. 61 para. 2bis KVG).

If you move, your premium may therefore change, even though you stay with the same insurer, in the same model and with the same deductible. The overview shows what changes and what does not:

The premium regions are set by the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) in the same way for all insurers. In 2026, Bern, Graubünden, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich have three regions, Basel-Landschaft, Fribourg, Schaffhausen, Ticino, Vaud and Valais two, and the other 15 cantons one. The FDHA has revised the division for 2027; the FOPH publishes the list of municipalities on its page on premium regions.

Step by step: telling your health insurer about your move

1. Check the new municipality. Find out which canton and premium region your new municipality is in. The postcode is not enough: one postcode can cover municipalities in different regions.
2. Compare the premium at your new address. Enter the new municipality in the premium calculator. This shows you what your insurer charges there and how it compares with the other offers.
3. Clarify where your insurer operates. Not every insurer offers basic health insurance throughout Switzerland. If it does not operate in the new canton, the special case below applies.
4. Check your model. GP, HMO and telemedicine models are tied to an area. Ask whether your model is offered at your new address and which GP practice or health centre is on the list there.
5. Report the move. Tell your insurer the date of the move and your new address in writing or in the customer portal as soon as both are fixed. The insurer then calculates the premium for your new place of residence and tells you from when it applies.
6. Sort out the premium subsidy. If you receive a premium subsidy, inform your previous canton that you are leaving and register in the new canton for the following year.
7. Plan a switch. If your insurer is expensive at your new address, note the next cancellation deadlines. The deadline calculator shows the dates.

What the law says about moving

The premium follows your place of residence

Under Art. 61 para. 1 KVG, your insurer charges all insured persons the same premiums, graded only according to the characteristics permitted by law. The canton and region are among them. What counts is your residence, i.e. the municipality where you live with the intention of staying permanently. The maximum difference allowed between premiums in the regions of a canton is set by the FDHA in Annex 2 of its Ordinance on Premium Regions.

A move alone does not give you a right to switch

The regular switching dates are set out in Art. 7 KVG: at the end of the year, if your notice of cancellation reaches the insurer by the last working day in November after the new premium has been notified (Art. 7 para. 2 KVG), and at the end of June with three months’ notice if you have the standard deductible in the standard model (Art. 7 para. 1 KVG). With an optional deductible or in a money-saving model, switching is only possible at the end of the calendar year (Art. 94 para. 2 and Art. 100 para. 3 of the Health Insurance Ordinance, KVV).

During the year, the law only allows a switch because of a move in one case: if you have to leave your insurer because you move your place of residence, the insurance ends at the time of the move (Art. 7 para. 3 KVG). This applies if your insurer does not offer basic health insurance in the new canton or the new region.

The new insurer must accept you

Within its local area of operation, every insurer must accept every person required to take out insurance, without health questions (Art. 5 let. i of the Health Insurance Supervision Act, KVAG). An insurer’s catchment area can be limited to individual cantons. Your old insurance only ends once the new insurer has told the old one that you are insured without interruption (Art. 7 para. 5 KVG). This means there is no gap.

Figures: how much the premium changes with your place of residence

The table shows the monthly premiums for basic health insurance in 2026 for an adult born in 1990, with accident cover, in four municipalities. Median, lowest and highest offer of all insurers and models in the municipality; source FOPH, health insurance premiums 2026.

Municipality (canton, region)	CHF 300 deductible, median	CHF 300 deductible, range	CHF 2,500 deductible, median
Bern (BE, region 1)	CHF 609.30	CHF 545.90 to CHF 758.90	CHF 482.70
Zurich (ZH, region 1)	CHF 580.00	CHF 517.70 to CHF 724.00	CHF 453.90
Winterthur (ZH, region 2)	CHF 528.05	CHF 467.90 to CHF 637.70	CHF 400.00
Zug (ZG, one region)	CHF 384.90	CHF 335.10 to CHF 536.10	CHF 259.40

Within the canton of Zurich, the median with a CHF 300 deductible in Winterthur is CHF 51.95 per month below that of the city of Zurich. Between Zurich and Zug the difference is CHF 195.10 per month. The medians come from different insurers and models; what you pay at your new address depends on your insurer and your model. We show the premiums per canton and region under Premiums by canton, for example for Zurich. The FOPH publishes next year’s premiums at the end of September; until they are released, we calculate with the 2026 premiums.

Sample calculation: moving from Zurich to Zug

Example with fictitious people. Nina, 36, moves from the city of Zurich to Zug on 01.07.2026. She is insured with a CHF 300 deductible and pays a premium at the level of the median in Zurich. Her insurer also operates in the canton of Zug and is also at the median there.

If Nina only reports the move in October, her premium will be wrong until then; the insurer corrects it as soon as it knows about the move. If you move to a more expensive region and do not report it, you should expect a back payment claim, because the premium depends on your place of residence. Whether switching insurer in the autumn is worthwhile, Nina checks with the Zug premium list for the following year as soon as the FOPH has published it.

Special cases when moving

Your insurer does not operate at your new address

Some insurers only offer basic health insurance in individual cantons. If you move out of their area of operation, the insurance ends on the day you move your residence (Art. 7 para. 3 KVG). You then choose a new insurer, which must accept you from that day. The new insurer credits the deductible and retention fee paid during the current year (Art. 103 para. 4 KVV); keep your old insurer’s statements for this. You can see which insurers operate in which cantons in the health insurer profiles.

Your model does not apply at your new address

Models with a restricted choice of service provider are only open to insured persons who live in the area where the insurer operates the model (Art. 100 para. 1 KVV). If you move out of this area, clarify with your insurer which model it transfers you to and from when. Your insurer’s model conditions apply. The page Insurance models explains the differences between the models.

Hospital and doctor in the new canton

After the move, your new canton of residence also applies to inpatient treatment: you choose from the listed hospitals of your canton of residence or of the canton where the hospital is located, and for treatment outside your canton, basic health insurance pays at most the tariff that applies in a listed hospital in your canton of residence (Art. 41 para. 1bis KVG). For outpatient care you can, as before, choose any approved service provider throughout Switzerland, unless your model provides otherwise.

Premium subsidy

For the whole calendar year of the move, the canton where you lived on 1 January is responsible; it continues to subsidise your premium under its own law (Art. 5 para. 1 of the Ordinance on Premium Subsidies by the Confederation and the Cantons, VPVK). From the following 1 January, the law of the new canton applies, with its own income limits and application deadlines. The page Premium subsidy shows how the cantons calculate.

Families and supplementary insurance

If children move with you, their premium changes according to the same rules. The federal premium regions do not apply to supplementary insurance; whether and how its premium changes with your place of residence is set out in your insurer’s general terms and conditions. The general terms and conditions and the information from your insurer apply.

Common mistakes

• Not reporting the move. Otherwise the insurer continues to calculate with your old municipality. If you move to a more expensive region, it can claim the difference later.
• Comparing by postcode. What counts is the municipality. One postcode can cover municipalities in different premium regions.
• Using the move as a reason to cancel. As long as your insurer operates at your new address, the regular dates apply. A cancellation during the year without a reason under Art. 7 para. 3 KVG has no effect.
• Forgetting the GP model. If your GP practice is far away after the move, you still have to follow the model’s rules until your insurer transfers you or you switch.
• Applying for the premium subsidy in the new canton too late. Every canton has its own deadlines. Clarify them before your first 1 January in the new canton.

If your insurer is expensive after the move, you will find the steps for switching under Switching health insurer. How premiums and income are linked is explained in the article Income-based premiums. You will find all articles on premiums, benefits and rules of basic health insurance in the Understanding basic insurance section.