Has anyone had experience using US COBRA insurance in place of Swiss health insurance in terms of the mandatory health insurance coverage? Are you aware if the Swiss health insurance agency would accept that as coverage until the COBRA period expires and then switch over to a Swiss provider? Thanks for the input.

I would be very surprised if it were possible from the Swiss side. They have a reputation for being persnickety when it comes to allowing people to have a private health plan in lieu of the basic coverage. This is especially true if they see you as a permanent resident.

Also I believe COBRA coverage comes with the same restrictions as the employer's health plan. So if the employer's health plan only covers residents of the US, then you cannot keep COBRA coverage in the first place once you are a resident of Switzerland.

I believe COBRA only lasts 18 months after you quit your last job. And you're
trying to use that to cover you here in CH? Is it really cheaper? When I quit
my last job I looked at the rates and they were not that good.

You would be better off getting a basic health plan here.

DavidSJC

Good points, thanks for the input

Switzerland only accepts Swiss insurance companies for the compulsory health insurance. No exceptions allowed.

There certainly are some exceptions allowed. But US COBRA insurance is not likely one of them. & really as was said above, COBRA will probably be more expensive.

We are on foreign health insurance

As an additional point, the COBRA plan is through Cigna International, which was the plan offered by my previous employer when I was here as an expat (very recently became local employee with someone else). The coverage is broader as it includes dental and a bit less expensive than the basic plan here. I was exempt from the Swiss insurance when I was here as an expat under the same plan. Hence, would like to maximize my time under this coverage if possible.

I would try to understand the grounds on which you've been exempt from the requirement in the past. If it is purely because the insurance is "good enough" then you might well have an argument worth pursuing - after all, COBRA is required to be the same as the plan that you had previously.

However, the underlying justification for the requirement isn't just about guaranteeing minimal health care, but also about cost sharing and preventing people from milking the system by taking cheap private insurance until they get sick and then switching to public insurance. So they have some reason to be persnickety. My guess is that you were previously exempted because you were "an expat", which I take to mean not a local employee. As a B permit holder you are nominally a permanent resident and my guess is that the plan wouldn't be accepted.

Actually, there are indeed a number of exceptions. You have to apply with a form (downloadable off their website) along with a copy of your current health insurance plan and other documents as per your specific exemption category. It's hard to get approved but it does happen.

Eg. Pre-existing condition whereby your current plan provides something necessary that Swiss basic does not.

We are exempted from "mandatory" Swiss health insurance. It took some paper work (OK a lot) and some perseverence (sp?) on my part but I managed it. We are covered through an Expat policy (Cigna) through my husband's work.
Sue

We were briefly covered under a foreign plan until the mountains and piles of extra paperwork the cantonal insurance asked for made us chuck everything and file for a local plan.

I do know that I had a friend get sick under COBRA here as a tourist and wound up having to pay a lot out of pocket even though she was already paying several hundred dollars a month for her COBRA policy. I just think it would be better to put a little more money into a local plan and not have to worry about paying anything out of pocket. But YMMV.

It seems like that is the same insurance the OP wants to use. Maybe you could give the OP some hints as to how to go about getting his/her Cigna policy approved?