@Barry - thanks for that info - it doesn't help me as I'm not a student, but I'm sure others will find it useful

@Richard - I checked out BUPA a while ago, but they told me that the gold level was the only one that would be accepted for Switzerland, but that it was not approved by Kanton Zurich. That was not to say that it wouldn't be approved, it was just that nobody had tried. I had heard tales of other people that had to battle with the authorities for up to 12 months to have their foreign health insurance recognised, and I just didn't have the energy to try. Another thing was that these people had arrived with their insurance, whereas I have been in the Swiss system for some time. My hunch was that they just don't want me to use foreign insurance. Do you know of anyone else that uses BUPA in Kanton Zurich and how they did it?

Mark