Hello!

I'm a new EU citizen, I'm pregnant and plan to come to Switzerland in the next couple of months due to a job offer my husband, a foreigner too, non EU citizen, got from a Swiss company.
Could you, please, tell me, when should I buy the birth insurance so that all my expenses can be covered; our child will be delivered at the end of August. Any idea of the amount needed? We'll be living in the Zurich area.

Thanks a lot.
Mari

Hi,

To my knowledge there is no single birth insurance not in our cases anyway.

As soon as you arrive here you must get in touch with a krankenkasse ( HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY) and that immeadiatley.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apart from being compulsory, with being pregnant, they are going to love you!!!!!!!!!!! BECAUSE GIVING BIRTH HERE IS ANYTHING BUT CHEAP.
The medical facilities are second to none, but the price is also second to none.

You had better do your homework thoroughly, because I would not be at all surprised if the krankenkasse made you pay more than the compulsory
10% OF THE TOTAL BILL,for the birth they may not even cover the cost, anything else they are duty bound.

My advice and don't delay,and get on to sorting it out now.

Good luck

Thanks for the answer, even though hardly encouraging......

I can only hope I'll find the best solution for it.

All the best!
Mari

Oooh, looks like Mrs Boris might be going home for this one then...

ColonelBoris,

I don't find your comment too sensitive when it comes to this serious matter. Instead of mocking at the situation, you'd better keep quiet if you have no good advice to give.

Don't worry Luyimari, I'm sure that anyone who quotes a bird book, knows his true place in life, there are plenty of people here who will give you good information, i would think that that sorting out your insurance as soon as you get here is very important, and be prepared because you may be up for more money than you had thought. Get your husbands company to do some groundwork for you, then you will know what you will be up for. There is an option to do with birth in the health insurance, best to be up front with your details and get an accurate response from them.
Good Luck

Thanks a lot for the encouraging reply, Moosemenner.
It feels good to be reassured that human kindness hasn't disapeared completely from our small world. We'll do our "homework" soon and we'll choose the best for our baby.

My kind regards to you.

No, I'm serious. We were talking about it the other day. If I was mocking the situation, I'd have made it funny.
And what's with giving the orders?

Take a look at some of these sights,perhaps they may help a little.
They are actual, and in german.

www.webliste.ch
www.santesuisse.ch
www.krankenkassen-center.ch
www.comparis.ch
www.stadt-zuerich.ch
www.bonus.ch
www.krankenkassenvergleiche.ch

From a number of these sights you can delve deeper into the health insurance system a nd perhaps from there,you'll get the answer you need, but it won't be easy.

Good luck.

When my ex-wife and I arrived in Switzerland ( approx. 11 years ago ) she was already pregnant. The authorities, health and social would not cover her for the pregnancy.

Rather than pay for the pregnancy here,
our son was born in England.

I hope that the situation has changed but arriving in the country already pregnant was a big no no

congratulations,
best regards
and good luck


Nick


PS, I really don't think Boris was making fun of the situation at all. . .

Quite right - we've unwittingly ended up in the same boat. We only found out last week that we've got one on the way and Mrs Boris only got out here a week before that. We've yet to sort out the insurance, so I think we may have difficulty on that one.
Honestly, I wasn't taking the mick.

Tony

For all of you in this situation, read this thread, http://www.englishforum.ch/family-ma...ancy#post32928

it mentions some people managed to get good insurance (basic + topup) while already pregnant...

Health insurance for children this is also very relevant..

Yes, but it comes at a price !

Dear Ynot and Muze7, thanks for the list of sites you sent, for threads respectively.

I also want to thank you, Nick, for the nice words and encouragement, fortunately the situation changed along the years, even though at high costs.

And as far as you, Tony, are concerned, I really felt the sarcasm in your first comment, unaware of the existence of a Mrs. Boris and of a similar situation with ours. If I was wrong, I apologize, as we all should do if we upset our fellows. And I wasn't giving any orders, by the way, I was only trying to let you know what I felt. Good luck with your baby!

My best regards to all of you,
Maria Lu

No sarcasm intended, more of a worried 'oh dear' as as things are a bit tight with the move and settling, etc.

Babies are great, aren't they? However, I felt quite bad this morning trying to convince Mrs Boris that I really did have to go to work this morning and that she'd have to struggle through morning sickness to look after our Mk. 1 monkey while I was away.

I know it's not of much help to Luyimari, but does anyone know if it's possible to pay NI contributions back to Blighty so that you can still use the NHS for free? I know Mrs Boris really liked the hospital where Lottie was born and would like to go back if possible, but probably can't afford it privately. I don't know if going to the UK for the birth would be covered by the basic health insurance.

Boris - I don't think they check up, do you?

All I can ask is given the state of the NHS, why? I know I'd rather have a baby here rather then back in Blighty with their push 'em out, get out attitude. Mrs Boris should check things out here before she makes her mind up.

They have been know to. You need to give a British residence as an address to qualify for free treatment even if you are still paying NI contributions.

As long as she takes the same insurance company as you they must cover you and also cover your future child and also your "mark 1 monkey".

It is interesting that some people also apparently managed to get top up insurance while pregnant. There is no legal obligation for this and often it comes with the clause you can have it for anything that is not pregnancy related until this pregnancy is over. Often there is a 12 month wait before additional insurances kick in for the case of pregnancy. One exception is often for Swiss wide hospital coverage - which of course is only sensible...