Hello.

I arrived to Switzerland in february, but I signed my insurance contract in May, just 3 months after arriving.

The fact is that know, With the bill of May and June, Avanex told me that I need to pay also the bills from February, March and April. By law I need to pay since I arrive to Switzerland, they told me.

But this is really extrange, because during those first months without insurance... I was, anyhow, insured?? if not, why I need to pay??


Thanks a lot and I hope you can advice me.

The insurance is retroactive to the moment of entry. Look on your contract for the starting date... that should have given you an indication.

It is law to be health insured in Switzerland when you are resident, so if you were a resident of Switzerland in February, March & April then you have to be health insured for those months. If you were health insured from another source then you need to tell them/prove it.

It is really strange indeed, but you have to be insured from
day one that you are in Switzerland.

Personally, I received my Green Card 10 weeks after arrival.
Only then would an insurance company give me insurance, and
when they did, I had to pay for insurance in the past.

It is strange, but you have to accept it.

Thanks!!

Completly clear

My case was very similar. I arrived to Switzerland in January 2008 and started new job the same month. I joined Avanex medical aid insurance and additional liability insurance only in March. Few weeks ago I received a bill which was backdated from the date when I was registered in Gemeinde.

The main reason to join the health insurance immediately was to be able to acquire the work permit. They sent me a letter from Gemeinde stating that I have to produce the document certifying that I am in possession of insurance. It was as a proof to collect my Ausweis.

I too had the same experience. I found it odd and wonder if I had needed medical attention and not had insurence yet, what would've happened?? Maybe they would have forced me to get insurance, and then fine me?? Soo many things in this country work sooo strangeee.... Specially when it comes down to paying... everytime they get the money!!!

Officially yes, you have to pay as of day 1 - well, more specifically, from the 1st of the month you arrive.

(I recently heard of someone who got here on December 31st, signed up as of January 1st and they made him pay for the whole of December even though he was only in the country for about 4 hours of the entire month!)

Yes, it is a strange one to get your head around but yes, you were insured for all of that time....

However, as I know a lot of companies (and more specifically, they know me!) I usually manage to wing it for people as long as we go for the "1st of" a month within 3 months

We've also had a similar experience with Avanex. First of all, they didn't bother to get back to us after we sent them the insurance application. After several weeks they finally sent us the confirmation, actually they sent us two (not identical). And even worse they backdated the whole thing to February (but we applied in mid June!!!).

The law in Switzerland says that you need health insurance once you've registered with the commune. However, if you are a EU citizen and you are not working in Switzerland you are still covered. All you need is an EHIC card. Unfortunately, Avanex wouldn't accept a copy of the EHIC card as a proof that my boyfriend was covered with his EHIC from the date of entry (Dec 2007) until June 2008 (when he started his first job). We had to write to the department of Health to get confirmation that he didn't need health insurance in Switzerland for that period of time. After they rejected the first application (they said he wasn't covered because he is in employment, but he wasn't working for six months, how would they know????) we wrote to them again. This time explaining the situation a bit more firmly.... we only wanted to get a backdated confirmation that my boyfriend was covered for the six months he wasn't working. But the department of health doesn't seem to knwo their own regulations and they are not even capable of reading a letter properly. It's just very frustrating to go through the whole thing again... grrrrrrrrrr....


Just wondering if any of you had a similar experience with avanex or the department of health?

More on Avanex here : AVANEX refuses to back date!

That will teach you for doing something not ordinary. My feeling is that the bureaucracy works well here for "normal" things. Anything out of the ordinary, it seems you need to be lucky with who processes your forms.

Best of luck!