Hi folks, new here, and in a bit of a bind. I moved to Switzerland last Christmas, with my Swiss wife. Our hopes and dreams were shattered when I broke my knee skiing on Easter Sunday. I am just starting to walk now, but need to return to the US for financial reasons. The Swiss insurance has been great, but they have said that I am no longer covered the day I leave. The problem is than next spring I will have to get all the metal pins removed from my knee, and go through some more physical therapy. The insurance companies I have contacted in the US say that they won’t cover the pre-existing condition. This is bad news since the surgery and recovery could easily exceed $10,000. Any advice! There has to be some way to get at least partial coverage, no? Thanks

Where you in employment when this accident happened ? If you were and working more than 12 hours per week then the claim would have been dealt with by the accident insurance provided by your employer and they would be responsible for any further costs which arise as a result of the accident.
I don't know what the position would be if you leave the country but it would be worth asking about this as it may be possible that if you returned here for the operation they would pay the bill.
If you were not employed then the bill would have been paid by your own medical insurance but the two systems work somewhat differently. So, if you were employed it might be worth making further enquiries with the company that paid the bills.

Thanks for getting back to me. Unfortunately I was not employed at the time of the accident. So this whole thing has been payed for by my private insurance from CSS. At this point, it seems almost worth it to keep paying the Swiss premium and fly back here fro the surgery next year. I don't know how I would pull that off, but to save $10,000 dollars, I'll give it some serious thought!

Please check that before you pay those premiums, as I have doubts it would work. Since you have to deregister with the Gemeinde (local council), your company will find out you have left through the council, and could therefore refuse to keep you as a client, or worse, let you pay and refuse when the hospital bill arrives.