Swisscare appears to be a management company with an office in Fribourg and the actual insurer is Gouda from the Netherlands. Claims are dealt with from an office in France, near Paris. They say their student policy is accepted by all but 3 cantons, Aargau, Neuchâtel and Tessin, and they have forms you can use to apply to the canton for acceptance.

You can view the conditions on their website and I’ve only had a brief time to study them but I’ve noticed the following: The say‘The benefits of the ESI PROGRAM SWITZERLAND is at minimum the same as the listed benefits in the Swiss health insurance law (KVG-LAMal). However, the actual conditions of their policy, i.e. under what circumstances these benefits are, or are not paid, are not the same as a normal Swiss one.

One of the first things I noticed is that pre-existing medical conditions are excluded (Article 5. Special exclusions) so if you already suffer from anything that may require medical treatment while you’re in CH it won’t be covered.

Under Article 4 Scope of cover, 4.3 Territoriality, The insurance policy applies in Switzerland. It also applies to travel outside the country of residence and visits to the policyholder’s country of origin, where these do not exceed 49 consecutive days per insurance year and are made only in cases of emergency.

There is a list of what they consider dangerous sports which you should study and also note that those who need treatment because they’ve taken drugs are not covered.
They are not part of the Swiss TelMed system so you have to pay the bills yourself and send them, with the receipt, to France. This could obviously be a problem if you have a big medical bill and meagre resources.

If it’s accepted by the canton it’s certainly much cheaper than a normal Swiss police BUT it does not offer the same cover. You really need to read all the conditions and decide for yourself if it’s acceptable to you.

I’d also like to make a comment about Swiss cover and that offered by foreign companies like BUPA as so many people just look at the premium and no further.

A Swiss company has to accept you for basic insurance irrespective of your state of health and they do not make, and cannot change, the policy conditions. They cannot load your premium or terminate cover if you are, or become, a bad risk and you are even free to switch to another insurer if they offer a lower premium ! On the other hand, a company like BUPA can refuse to accept you and, if they do accept you, you only have cover until the next renewal when they could terminate the policy or load the premium to any degree they like. See this article.

With the Swiss system we get the security of knowing that we cannot be refused cover or have our premiums loaded but, obviously, this costs more. Personally I think it’s a price well worth paying.