Hi everyone!

I'm in need of some health insurance advice and hope you can help me

My husband and I have been in Zurich since 01.03. The 1st 3 months he could stay health insured in Germany (where we relocated from) as he was looking for a job while receiving German unemployment benefits with the E303 form. As this privilege ended end of may, we are trying to insure him from the 01.06.

3 weeks ago we applied online for Assura as they are the cheapest and we don't mind the GP-model or paing upfront for our bills and getting them reimbursed later. We chose a 300CHF franchise as medication and regular doctors visits are needed.

Here comes the problem: I haven't heard from them since and they don't reply to emails asking what happened to the application. When I tried to call them today, I was given a special number for 'people with 300 to 500CHF franchise'. This was busy upon several calls.

Now Im suspecting that their strategy is to scare off people that want a small franchise as they will cost them more money, which is true in my husband's case, but I thought these practices were illegal?

Has anyone here had similar experiences?

I also don't know how to proceed:

- apply to different insurer? - don't want to do that really as this is exactly what they want, but this sort of behavior does not promise easy handling of medical bills in the future

- is there a maximum time by law in which they have to reply to our application? can I do anything to put pressure on them like contacting the 'ombudsman'?

- is there a similar time limit of 3 months of finding an insurer after you stop being exempt from the swiss insurance?

Then the last question: is it a bad idea to get insured with Assura in the case of chronic illness (if you have the funds to pay bills upfront) - any experiences from forum members?

Thanks a lot for reading

I got negative experiences with Assura as well. When I signed up november 2008, they did not bill me for the first 2 months :-)
That saving was "lost", when they did not bill me at all either until June 2009, and after i got the first bill from them, they sent it to Betreibung immediately.

Needless to say, I switched insurance by the end of the year.
Luckily I never had to claim anything from them. If they are that bad at collecting their money, one can only imagine how bad they are, to pay out the money you are entitled to.

Doc.

we are with Assura since 2007, have a high Franchise, but lower month premium. Never had to claim for Medical bills so far, get 100chf per year for Contact lenses from them and have claimed for Dental bills for my son (got 150chf back last year) All money always paid within two weeks of sending bills (although not high amounts). Also no problems getting through on phone, and always managed to speak to someone in English. Only prob so far, they do not work with a specific hospital where I need treatment so need rereferring to another Doctor, so just a bit more of a wait. Our Franchise is 2500 and 10% over up till a max of another 700 chf, so total 3200, I was unsure of this but this was clarified with them over the phone

Thanks for all your answers! Good to hear that their refund practices are good, but as I said this is a case of low franchise in which they will suspect medical problems and there will be high(ish) bills...

As I was getting bigger and bigger doubts, I had another look at CSS that according to comparis.ch was only 35CHF more expensive. On their website, I found a model (medix group model - where you have to visit the practice that by chance is one where my huisband is already a patient) that is only 30CHF more expensive than Assura and it sound great as we are already in touch with these doctors...

Let's look how quick these guys are at reacting

Now I'm wondering: if Assura never sent us anything and we did not sign any contract (just internet application), it means we have no agreement right? Or will we be in trouble when they suddenly start sending us bills?

Thanks again!

Im good with them also, no problems yet... I pay 154 a month and that is it....But I think I have a high deductable also since I am never sick and for serious stuff I go to Belgium as I come out of a doctor family

I recently had to change insurance and asked for a proposal from Assura, and it came rather later than the other companies' proposals. I decided not to go with them bcause my doctor told me they aren't always so easy to deal with, and they require you to pay for medicine and than claim it back. Other companies, like KPT, aren't that much higher in price (if you choose the family doctor plan-not bad as their list is quite extensive), and the service is a lot better in my opinion.

I used to be with Assura and when I changed they wouldn't accept my cancellation of the contract (even though I sent it by registered post) and continued to send me bills after that claiming that my cancellation wasn't valid. I talked to my new insurance agent about it and he wrote them an angry letter and that seemed to fix the problem as I never heard from them again.

Don't worry, I asked for and received about 8 different offers to consider, and have not received any bills from the ones I rejected. It's not a contract unless you sign. Some companies followed up to ask if I had made my decision and to remind me that I would be welcomed as a client, but that's it.

Personally, it would ring alarm bells for me. If they are this hard to contact when you want to give them money, then what about when you need help from them?

Yes, it is a bad idea because ASSURA doesn't pay for the medicines. The bills for medication pile up with the medical bills and only once you have reached the franchise they will pay you 90 % of the costs. Most of the other insurers will pay 90 % of the cost of medicines from the beginning, since they are treated separately from the medical bills. On the other hand you have to pay the bills up front with all insurers, and only when you reach the franchise level you send them the bills and then they give you some money back. On the other hand if one member of your family has a chronical illness you probably want a complementary insurance and even though this is difficult to get everywhere for somebody with a medical condition, it looks like ASSURA is not really eager to insure you. I would try somewhere else.

My understanding is that
1) Swiss insurance companies cannot refuse insurance
2) they cannot charge you more for your medical history

I've been with Assura for 10 yrs without major problems. Reading through the thread, I can remember we had billing issues - they kept on sending us "reminders" when actually they had never sent the original.

It took a while to fix, but since then no problems.

Fundamentally Assura have poor service as they offer a cut rate fees. They are much the cheapest insurers, so "you pays your money and makes your choice" as the saying goes.

I think I read a while back (on EF) that they had an influx of new customers and were now struggling with the extra workload.

Do you have a broker managing your account/application? You might want to get one involved as AFAIK it doesn't cost extra and you can pressure them more easily than Assura.

Good luck either way.

Yes, but you can make it difficult for someone that is suspicious (why would you take a small franchise if you are in good health?) - in fact this is what they do with their policy of paying medication upfront (which we wouldn't mind).

Never thought of a broker as I like to handle things myself, but maybe in this case it would be an idea!

Thanks for all replies!

Yes, in principle, but they have no idea what your financial situation or preferences are, so they cannot really make any assumptions.

Genuinely, I reckon you're simply facing inefficient (or crap, if you prefer) service.

They cannot refuse to insure you for the COMPULSORY/ BASIC insurance, but they can refuse to give you a COMPLEMENTARY insurance, so many people who have bad health cannot find any insurer for the complementary insurance. In other cases like mine, they gave me a complementary insurance that applies for all my body except for my back, since I had an operation in my back 10 years ago. They wrote a special line in my contract specifically saying that any back problems were not included in the (complementary) insurance. I had no choice but to accept it, since in another place (ÖKK at the time) they had refused to give me a complementary insurance at all. Nevertheless I had to pay the full cost of the complementary insurance . By the way the contract with ASSURA for the complementary is for 5 YEARS, with a notice of 6 MONTHS for quitting (most companies have 3 months).