We are thinking of switching our medical insurance cover from Groupe Mutuel to Assura. Anyone have any experience with this Insurance company? We had trouble with Groupe Mutuel this year and want to change; however, don't want to end up with a worse one. We could make a saving of 2000 chf a year if we go with Asura but again won't be a saving if they are not good. Thanks

So far, so good. They claim they don't raise your premiums with age, so that's something to consider for the long term. Friendly service, too.

This is my first year with them. When I have needed to contact them and ask them questions they have been helpful. I subscribe to their online service and so receive most correspondence electronically - which helps bring the fees down a little more if I remember correctly. I also just changed my address online which was really simple to do.

So far I have not made any claims so cannot really comment on how that goes but it's been plain sailing so far.

I've been with them for several years and have had no problems.
You should know that if use Assura, you always have to pay directly at chemists for your prescriptions and then claim back the money later, as Assura do not participate in the system whereby the chemist bills them directly for the prescribed medication. It takes 2-3 weeks to get the money back, but it does arrive !
Also, you automatically get a card which entitles you to 10% off non-presciption stuff from any SunStore chemist. As for several other companies who are parteners of Sunstore you do not pay the tax on the prescription, which saves you a few francs.
I have notices that although the price is good for adults and children, for the 18-25 age group it's not so good compared to other companies.

I have also been with Assura for several years and have no complaints.

As stated by WendyD above, you pay up front at the chemist and pay your doctors bills yourself, and claim back afterwards. They also ask that you don't start claiming back, i.e. sending them the bills you have paid, until you actually go above your franchise so are eligible to receive repayment, to save on their administration costs. But I've never had a problem with them on this.

For example, I have a high franchise with them, but also have a supplementary option that pays out capital to cover the franchise in case of an unexpected overnight hospital stay. I had never really had to claim anything with them before, so when I unexpectedly had cause to claim on this optional extra earlier this year, I was braced for problems and expected to have to fight for my claim (as is often the case with other insurances), but it all just went like clockwork, the money automatically appearing in my bank account without me lifting a finger, presumably after they received the bill direct from the hospital. Very pleasantly surprised!

a couple of (potentially negative) points I thought of to bear in mind, may or may not influence your decision:

• their online customer system is only available in French and German (possibly also paper documentation? I don't know).

• Not sure if this applies to just some or all Assura policies, but mine has a minimum term of 5 years... so you can't just chop and change insurer each year. So just make sure you're aware of what you're signing before you sign!

Thanks a million guys for all the info.. German is fine but didn't know about the long term contract will check it out.

I believe you can cancel the Basic Insurance by the end of the year, but other conditions (5 years minimum) may apply to Suplementary Insurance.

I noticed this when I was signing up and so asked the ever helpful Jenny if this means I would be stuck with them if they suddenly raised the prices massively. She assured me that should that be the case you are allowed by law to terminate the contract earlier.

Yes, I double checked mine. Quite right.

Coincidentally I am also looking at swapping to Assura this year for the lower premiums so this thread has been really helpful.

One quick question on the term limits...I would be buying the obligatory basic insurance plus accident. Is the accident part considered a supplement and therefore no cancellable for five years?

Really appreciate everyone's input.

The insurance company which I'm, with has just increased the premium and I'm thinking of jumping ship.

Comparis.ch states that Assura is the cheapest and after reading the replies here, I might consider them despite its unimpressive ratings.

Question for those who are with Assura.

With Assura, can you go to a doctor of your choice or do you have to go to a doctor which is designated by Assura?

Out of interest, why are you considering this option?

I had medical cover with ASSURA through NVC (Basel) and had a lot of issues in the 1st 4 months of residency.
(1) The broker took our brief for medical & dental cover but ultimately extracted themselves from the support loop so effectively just taking whatever reward was on offer for signing us up - disappointing;
(2) I think were under the impression that if you pay good money, you get good service - we did not - at least by old UK standards! An no obvious course for redress or arbitration (i.e. Consumer service act/trading standards);
(3) I broke a tooth, told NVC who said go to a dentist, I did. The dentist patched me up & said that I needs (a) an implant @3500CHF best option, or (b) a crown @ 2500CHF good but not best option. I told the broker who told ASSURA who insisted that I go get some X-rays so they could assess, which I did. They dragged this out for over 2 months despite my requests for info I was kept in the dark and quite ignorant. Eventually I was told that my policy had a 2500CHF reserve which I must pay (annually) 1st before the payout (less 10%) on any claim !!! And get this, they said they would not cover the extra 1000CHF for an implant anyway because the tooth had been filled previously (outrageously, this assumes that the impact on my tooth would not have broken it anyway had the tooth been untouched. I mean it could have been rotten but unfilled - my dentist agreed that it was a fob off). So effectivley the dental cover was practically useless. I would have to have perfect teeth and need nothing short of major work on 2 or more teeth to deliver any value. The broker effectivley shrugged their shoulders and rolled their eyes exclaiming "this is the SWISS way" and stopped returning my communications. ASSURA will only communicate with me in German (very difficult, especially on technical issues) and I have not been made aware by any party of a translation service or English speaking customer support! The dentist billed me for the X-rays that resulted only by the request of ASSURA who declined to cover this otherwise redundant detail (BEWARE!). So I had to pay extra for ASSURA ‘s administration - insult to injury.
(4) Also, I fell of my bike cutting my eye and severely bruising some ribs & shoulder. NVC & ASSURA were informed. So, I took myself to the hospital (no ambulance) and got some stitches, X-ray & shoulder scan + consultation. Excellent hospital service! Then I got a bill directly from the hospital. Of course it's been paid but I've had no instruction/advice from NVC or ASSURA to claim anything back.

The irony is that insurance is compulsory but as you can see, in my experience it is just another overhead as despite suffering circumstances that we typically take out insurance to cover (compulsory or not) I have not seen any value from the broker or the insurer. Indeed, there involvement in my misfortune has served only to add delay, cost and frustration. But I suppose that "this is the SWISS way" and if I want to live here I just have to accept it - the joke is on me then?

I now live in France and have a cross-boarder policy and an English speaking broker I can TRUST which gives me greater flexibility. My advice would be :
(a) don’t assume that the broker has a clue or gives a crap
(b) assume that the insurer will throw as much resource at wriggling out of a pay-out as they will to deliver on their (perceived) commitment to your WELL BEING.
(c) Try to understand (before you commit) at what point (deducting excess costs etc) and in what scenarios (typical to your anticipated requirements) the policy will deliver a pay-out or any value to you. This way you will not feel like a door mat when the answers come to your questions.
(d) There is a big difference between TRUST in context of friendship and TRUST in context of a commercial transaction so be sure to bring your commercial head to the table and don't expect any sympathy cards.


FINALLY. On a funny but relevant side note. When my broker NVC was measuring my statistics they actually fudged the figures to make the premium more reasonable. This brings into question the metrics upon which premiums and other stuff are justified.
I'm 6foot 1 inch, I play rugby & train every week (+ gym), I am solid with little (<10%) fat and lots of muscle, I'm also (as my mum says) heavy boned - I have a solid frame! I am a FIT lad & I was due to be 40 the month after arrival which in itself affects you insurance premium - globally! According to the insures metrics I am SEVERELY OBESE - what! So the guy at NVC says we’ll need to massage these figures, and so he does. I guess at this stage I should have realised that the whole fiasco was not really about me and my WELL BEING eh?


Good luck with ASSURA - think positive and I'm sure it will all be fine in the end (maybe?).

Anyone having problems with Medical Insurance companies can contact the Ombudsman for help: http://secure.om-kv.ch

Ombudsman der sozialen Krankenversicherung, Eugster Morgartenstr. 9, 6003 Luzern, Tel: 041 226 1010 (German) x1011 (French), Monday through Friday from 9 till 11.30 am.

They speak English too.

Gotta love those working hours eh? I thought Ireland was bad with it's 10-12 and 14-16 daily opening times for state agencies.

Ach bless! those civil offices in Ireland work so hard not working they need those long lunches to get to the pub. Here, in Switzerland, they can only see the public for a couple of hours and need the afternoon to recover.. unlike the Irish authorities the Swiss have a tendency to listen so it must get very exhausting..

Hi,

We planned to switch from our current Insurance provider to Assura. So, we filled the online application form and sent the printout to Assura last week. Within 2 days, we got a mail from NVC asking to meet them in person to sort out the plan. So, we thought it is some sister concern of Assura and did a visit. But soon we figured it as a consulting company from the way they spoke to us. Later found the details about them in internet too.

So, now my question is, how much will they charge us (any guess or from your experiences)? Really scared about consulting fees here, as once had a heavy bill with a tax consultant, who really did nothing much to us. The person at NVC gave us nearly an hour of consulting about the insurance plan that suits us well.

Thanks.

We've used NVC for setting up our insurances and have used them without too much fuss for 10 years.

AFAIK, we've never been charged extra. Certainly, nothing on top of the insurance fees we've paid.

We are with Assura (health), Baloise (home content), Zurich (car). The bills come direct from the insurance companies and there is no visible mark up. I guess they make their money on kick-backs from the relevant insurance companies.

They've also been helpful about chasing said companies and answering related questions (and offered to get licence plates for cars etc.) at no extra cost. They can be a bit slow to respond, but otherwise, really no complaints.

That said, I do know that they have consulting for investments and life insurance and the like, but I guess you should ask for these fees before the meeting

But seriously. For an hour of consulting, you shouldn't pay more than 150-250 CHF unless you are talking about seriously qualified people...

Thank you so much Wish there won't be any fees or a maximum of something in the range as you said.

Yes, we should have asked about the fees before. But as I said, thought that it is the same group of Assura and hence calling us to discuss our request. After visiting there, when the person started explaining matters, I felt something and asked for whom they are working and he replied "Independent" and said will advice for any insurance company. Then only I realised "OK, may be a bill on my way"

Also my husband felt that we should not ask about fees in the middle of a discussion and so set the mind to pay the fees, if incase. But before the real bill arrives, thought to get a opinion from our forum.

I would speak to Jenny who is familiar with this insurer. She is an insurance broker with an account on this forum and has helped many for free.