Dear Friends,
I’m sorry if my queries seems elementary to you, but the answers are too imperative for me. So I would be so grateful if you can answer me as soon as possible.

I will come to the Bern as visiting researcher at University of Bern on 8th Jan 2012, and my visa is type D.

My questions are:

• What documents do I need in order to get residence permit?
• What documents do I need in order to register as residence?
• Where should I register as residence? (at local police??, immigration police??, ….)
• First, I have to go the immigration police (Fremdenpolizei) and register as residence, and then to then buy Insurance or vise versa?
• I have search on comparis.ch for compulsory health insurance. (please see here ….), here prices are around 400CHF per month. But I find another company (Swiss Care) which is not included in comparis.ch and propose to studenta a health care with substantial lower price in comparison with companies in comparis.ch (see here: ). My questions are:

5.1 Is student health insurance proposed by Swiss Care acceptable by immigration police as compulsory health insurance?
5.2 What is the main reason for this substantial difference between other health insurance companies and student health insurance proposed by Swiss Care??

Thanks in advance.
Your prompt responses are fully appreciated.

Sorry, I forgot to insert the links in my previous message!!!
Here are the link: prices in comparise.ch (http://en.comparis.ch/Krankenkassen/...eresultatseite)

and the link related to Swiss Care: (http://www.swisscare-intl.com/swissc...itzerland.html)

Thanks a lot.

Dear Friends;
I have read more thread about insurance. It was so helpful, but its information were too obsolete (about 3-4 years ago)

So, I have some more quires and any responses to them are highly appreciated.

• Is the Swiss Care Insurance acceptable in Canton of Bern instead of Compulsory health insurance ?
• Is it still a foreign company in Switzerland?
• Should I fill the special form for from student who buys foreign insurance in order to be exempted from buying compulsory health insurance??

I’m eagerly looking forwards to hearing from you.
Thanks again.
Ehsan

I have managed to get in a real old mess and now am paying two medical insurance companies. I did not cancel one in time before starting with another.
Does anyone know how/when I can cancel one of the policeies. Otherwise I am in the crazy position of paying two companies for insurance all year :-(

No problem, well with basic insurance anyway, supp. insurance is another matter.
First you have to show proof to your new insurer that you are still insured with the old one.
Then you have to delay your new your new insurance beginning 2013, they should have a form for this.
Cancel your old insurance end 2012.
As I said above, this only applies for your basic insurance.
You might be able to delay your supps. till next year, it would depend on the company.
Act ASAP. ie today and good luck.

That is correct.

You cannot have 2 companies for the basic insurance by law.

In your case, as you didn't cancel with your original insurer, you'll have to stay with this company for 2012 unfortunately.

If you had supplementary insurance with this company and signed up for supplementary insurance with your new company, you may be able to get them to push the start date to 01.01.2013 if the cover is similar. Your new insurance company may ask for proof of "double cover" but I have seen it be accepted in the past for some people.

One last thing to note is that, if you have/had a 300CHF deductible without any alternative method (e.g. GP method, TelMed etc.) then you can cancel for the 30.06.2012 as long as you give them 3 months notice (i.e. before the end of March).
That would mean only having your old company for the first 6 months of 2012.

Hope this helps

And yes, you should act asap.

Jenny, our resident expert, has given a link to her FAQ's which I have now put into the Sticky at the top of this sub-forum. If something connected with Health Insurance has not been covered in sufficient detail there for your needs or something is not clear, please ask here, phrasing your request as clearly as possible, so that the reply can be added to the page in the link.

If anyone can think of any "obvious" questions or recurrent queries that I've missed, just let me know and I'll add them. It is a work in progress at the moment but I think I've covered most of the health questions.

The aim is to get as many Q&A's answered as possible in one place.

Thanks everyone!

Is there any supplementary covering expenses for LFFA drugs (at least partially?)
I've heard some do it but got no idea. Informations about it is not available on Comparis, etc...

Thanks for your attention

Hmm, you would have to check with each individual company to be honest.

Many of them work with Swissmedic and will cover meds on the Swissmedic list as part of your supplementary package (if they aren't on the Speciality list covered by the basic of course).

N.B. Remember that there is a mandatory health questionnaire for supplementary insurance so if you're already taken this drug then you'll have to declare it and your insurance company may put a "reserve" on it and therefore not cover it anyhow
It sucks, I know...

Hi Jenny,

If you have a pre-exisiting condition that will require surgery at some point, why would an insurance company turn down your application for supplemental cover for this (or exclude it), if basic insurance covers you whatever your health status?

Thanks.

Basic insurance is compulsory whereas supplementary cover is optional.

Therefore, because we don't have to take supplementary cover out, so the insurance companies don't have to accept us.
This is why they ask for a health questionnaire to be completed at the moment you apply.

The chances are if you have a pre-existing condition that they will either refuse you outright for the supplementary cover or they will accept you but with a "reserve" meaning that they will cover you for everything except a certain condition/medication/part of the body etc.
They will send you notification of this in writing and some companies will ask you to confirm that you accept the reserve by signing something. (Others may say something along the lines of "if we don't hear from you within x days then we assume that you accept the reserve").

With basic insurance, there is no health questionnaire and you should never be asked to complete one when applying for this only.
It is compulsory therefore the insurance company we apply to has to accept us - by law.

Hope that clears it up?!

Let me know if it doesn't

Thanks Jenny - very helpful.

Do you know whether most companies automatically don't cover any preexisting conditions, or are there exceptions? And if they do, is it better to be proactive and say that you realize x condition will not be covered (so that they don't reject your application altogether)? Or is that a bad idea?
Thanks again. Your input is much appreciated

To be fair, they're all very similar and if one rejects you then others are likely to reject you too as they all have pretty much the same acceptance criteria.

You would have to mention anything on the health questionnaire when applying anyhow. They don't need to know until you reach that point but you should definitely mention any pre-existing conditions you have as they'll find out sooner or later anyhow and there is no point in trying to hide it on the application form.

Unfortunately, there is no "pay higher premiums to get access to supplementary cover" if you have a pre-existing condition.
They either accept you or they don't (or accept you with a reserve).

Thanks Jenny! Yes I know you have to be upfront - just wondered how to increase chances of being accepted
Thanks.

Not a lot you can do I'm afraid

Good luck with it all and no probs

My three kids and I are Swiss citizens (recently returned), and my wife is Australian.

I myself am registered in Bern City, my kids are not yet registered in Bern City due to us probably finding our apartment outsdie of this Gemeinde, and my wife is not registered due to awaitng her permit (also linked to finding an apartment).

So the question is - Can my kids and I still get health insurance!?

I went to one Health Insurance office and they told me that I could but not my kids since they are not registered anywhere. Friends and others I speak to find this odd and think we should be able to get Health Insurance regardless. To be honest the Insurance rep sis not seem very certain about their position either ...

Any advise?

Good question...

I would say no.

Reason being that, whilst basic health insurance in Switzerland is compulsory for all residents, it is also only available to residents.

The best thing to do is to register them wherever you are at the moment - even if it's only temporary. You can always change this later on with the population office.

The problem is that the insurance companies will ask for proof of residence when you're applying so the only way to do this is to give them something from the commune/population office - either an attestation of residence or a copy of your permit (for your wife).

If you're all physically living in Bern, I see no problem in registering there as residents.

Hope this helps?

Ok, thanks - that does make sense!

i understand that in HMO model, before go to a specialist i need to see the GP first. But what would happen if i go to a specialist directly?? will the insurance company refuse to reimburse it?? assume it already reach the deductible?