Starting to shop around for H-insurance and I have a question regarding medication for chronic conditions, in this case my wife's asthma.

She needs her cocktail of puffers each and every day. Does the basic ins. cover the costs of medication for such conditions or would is require a specific additional coverage?

I wld fnd it esy if u rot in propper englis

Short answer is yes, basic cover covers normal medical treatment.

Subject to excess and franchise, that is.

I apologise for not writing a your English your Majesty

As Ittigen says, no Insurance here can refuse you for basic medical treatment, even if you have pre-existing conditions. All Insurances have an 'excess/franchise' - the higher the excess, the cheaper the policy. So if you choose a policy for 300CHF excess, that means that in any one year, you will pay the first 300- then the Insurance takes over. If you choose a policy with a 1000 excess, the policy will be cheaper, but you will have to pay the first 1000, etc. So if you have an pre-existing condition with expensive meds, go for a low franchise. We actually buy one of the meds for my OH on a private prescription when we are in the UK, as it is much much cheaper than here. If the cost of the inhalers is low- you could do the same, and then a higher excess.

good question. I really hope so, since my son has asthma and also needs regular care and medication.
I brought him today to his first specialist check up since moving to zurich (by the way, if you're in ZH and are interested, we could exchange experiences with doctors). since it was acute, we couldn't wait to check with the insurance, but I can let you know what they say. I guess we'll have to pay the bill first and then ask for refund.

excuse me odile, what is "OH"?
and do pharmacies in UK accept prescriptions by swiss doctors? that sounds like an interesting option for us with germany, also surely cheaper.
thanks.

OH is 'other half' = spouse (husband/wife/partner).

Sorry, my message was not clear. We used to live in the UK and still visit regularly. Last year we asked the local pharmacy where we go the price of the medication and couln't believe it was so much cheaper. So we asked our old doctor in the UK for a private prescription for the medication (which is about a 1/4 of the cost in UK) and we buy the meds when we are in the UK, no problem. The interesting question will be, if we ever do go over our franchise- whether the Insurance would accept our receipts from the UK towards said franchise? Will report if we ever find out.

right, I understand. good to know, since I almost collapsed at the pharmacy when buying the medication today... I'm sure it would be cheaper in germany, too, but it's a new therapy so I need to compare first.

Venice, do please let me know. We will be in BE (Spiez) but your experience will be appreciated anyway.

Still can't get to grips with Comparis. I select the correct options for basic insurance and then get a bajillion results, how can one make a sensible decision with all the clutter?