Hello:

I am coming to Zurich to live/work on November 1st. My family will not be able to join me untill after new years. Also, I have a daughter that is in school in US and will not join us in ZH for a year or so. Which Swiss health coverage will cover me in CH and my family in USA at the same time. Please help, I must make these decisions now. Thanks!

Vinnie

You are allowed to keep a non-swiss "equivalent" scheme going for upto 5 years. We used a french one for a while "GMC Gestion" which offers worldwide insurance and is definitively allowed. The US cover is not cheap however it is flexible. You might also find that your US insurance will cover you in CH while the family is in the US.

D

Thanks, DannyT for your quick response, but what I am trying to arrange is to find out which Swiss insurance will also cover my family internationally. I have the option to adopt COBRA coverage from my old job, which continues the coverage I have from my old job with me paying $1,100.00 USD per month retroactive from October first whlie at the same time starting coverage with a Swiss firm for however many hundreds of dollars per month in ZH. I am not a rich guy. I would like to find one solution that covers all. But again, my thanks,

Vinnie

Since health insurance premiums are calculated on the basis of the canton of residence, my wild guess is that you cannot subscribe a Swiss health insurance if you are not actually domiciled in the country.

Shorrick:

Unfortunately, your wild guess is incorrect. Let's just assume my residence is in the Zurich 8000 postal code. With that, is there any help you can give me to possibly resolve my dilemma?

Regards, Vinnie

As I said - you cannot register your dependents here on Swiss insurance unless they actually live here - as the premium calculations are based on the assumption that you will make use 99% of the time of the Swiss healthcare system and its associated prices. Further, coverage is per capita and not lumped per family. Wild guess was rather tongue in cheek.

As to your other dilemma, you could continue under your US coverage and forego Swiss insurace to the extent that your US coverage is deemed at least equivalent to Swiss minimum legal insurance. This is determined by the authorities of your future residence canton.

In short, if you want a headstart, you can contact said authorities and ask them whether your current US plan qualifies as sufficient.

The only way to avoid this is coming here on a diplomatic posting.

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Shorrick MK2:

Ahah! Now your meaning is clear! I have also been able to gleen usefull information from this reply. Thanks so much. Hmmmm...I wonder if I would be able to initally cover just myself in CH until they come here, and then add them to my coverage in Switzerland on the fly. Anyone know if this is possible?

As I said before - Swiss coverage is per person, not lumped together. Each person of the household is covered by an individual contract. Each person can (and has to) be covered individually from the date of entry onwards.

Shorrick MK2:

Right! Thanks again! Now it's totally clear and I see how I must handle this. I'll send for the forms in advance and square everything away once I'm in town. Cheers,

Vinnie

Shorrick MK2 or anyone:

Once we have established coverage here in CH, if we are then traveling about in the US or EU, does this coverage cover us while we are there, outside of Switzerland? Thanks,

Vinnie

cisco Kid I had swiss health insurance in US an got hurt job an the hospital want a 100000frs to look at me so I had to use my job insurance. so asy alot Q????? frist ok.And make sure it ok for the US. dekrim

Thanks, Dekrim! Does anyone out there know of a particular Swiss health insurance that DOES cover you also while you are visiting in the US? Thanks!

Cisco Kid

Most of them will cover travel care.

We're with Intras. They gave us complimentary international / travel medical insurance.

Sanitas covers you while you are outside Switzerland for up to 1 year. This may not be part of their standard package, but they offer it.