Does anyone know if Travel Insurance is a separate thing in Switzerland? Or is this covered by the supplement to Health Insurance?

You need to ask your health insurer, or read their website.

It depends on how you define 'travel insurance'. In Switzerland, 'travel insurance' applies to a wide range of insurance products, some of them available as supplements to existing health insurance policies, other from traditional insurances companies such as Schweizerische Mobiliar. Premiums and coverage vary widely.

We get our from Mobillière Suisse- totally separate from normal Health Insurance- and we are also members of REGA (70CHF per year for a couple, and they will pick you up from anywhere in the world in an emergency best value ever)

You are not members of REGA but donors, i.e. REGA has no legal obligation to help you in case of an emergency. Check out http://www.rega.ch/en/support-rega/b...patronage.aspx.

Yes, a supporter - to the great hilarity of my OH, as the card says 'gonner'

Never ever known of a case where they didn't help. A friend of mine was in Tunisia and became very ill. The REGA doctors talked to the doctors at the hospital where she was taken to - and having assessed that they didn't have appropriate care available, sent a plane with 2 nurses and a doctor to pick her up. Many friends have been helicoptered off mountains for many years, never a refusal. A fabulous institution and well worth supporting, and- all fingers crossed, using if ever necessary.

I really suggest that if you travel outside of CH, that you have an extra health insurance. As I understand it, the CH insurance is only responsible for paying the costs according to the CH tariff. This will not cover you in MOST countries of the world (think USA for example).

Personally, I use "Livret ETI" from the TCS. It is available for Europe only (covers some of North Africa and Turkey - see coverage map) and Worldwide.

It is available for a single or for a family.

TCS also has a second insurance that covers you for a longer stay for recovery in the country. Not sure of all the details but here is the link for the two products.

Livret ETI:

FR - http://www.tcs.ch/fr/assurances/assu...livret-eti.php

DE - http://www.tcs.ch/de/versicherungen/...chutzbrief.php

Long-term care:

FR - http://www.tcs.ch/fr/assurances/assu...e-guerison.php

DE - http://www.tcs.ch/de/versicherungen/...ungskosten.php

Interesting - but does this cover the actual costs of treatment whilst abroad? I understood that it "only" covered things like transfer back to a Swiss hospital and so on - but not the price of the treatment itself.

The treatment abroad is covered by your mandatory health insurance and/or your accident insurance. Additional coverage for the treatment abroad is only necessary for very expensive countries, in particular the US.

Thanks - I didn't know that! I really should research this topic more, having never had to use insurance in CH my knowledge of how it works is clearly not the best...

Are you sure? Check your policy first! Ours does not.

Here is what is covered by basic insurance abroad http://en.comparis.ch/krankenkassen/...g.aspx#punkt14

That's great to know. So really I think I can get away with not having a separate travel insurance as would only go to the doctors/hospital abroad on holiday if it was an emergency... Thank you!

For 70 CHF this seems like an absolute no-brainer!?

It depends !

(from Comparis)

"Only emergency treatment is covered abroad. Basic health insurance will only pay up to twice the amount the same treatment would cost in Switzerland.

This is sufficient for travel within Europe, but in certain overseas areas it is highly recommended to buy additional insurance, especially for travel in the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Usually, basic health insurance will not cover transportation costs back to Switzerland and only 50% of emergency transportation costs to the next hospital abroad, up to CHF 500 per year."

Frankly, I am happy to give a little money to Assista (TCS travel insurance) and sleep well on my vacations.