I've just registered at the Rathaus after arriving in Switzerland and started working one week ago...
... I've just got forms for health insurance (pdfs) after getting a quote from en.comparis.ch website which I shall have to get someone to translate at work...
... I appreciate that I should have done this before arriving really, but it was a very rushed thing to leave UK and come here... I shall get this done and paid as quick as possible ( I hope to have a bank account in next few days )....
.... meanwhile, am I likely to prosecuted/imprisoned etc. for not yet having insurance in place ( I am doing my best to get it sorted asap! ).... or do I have a few days to do this ? I saw somewhere that you have
3 months, provided you backdate the payment, but I find this hard to
believe....


Cheers

Not sure if it's the same in every canton, but in NE you get a letter a few days after registering, giving you 20 days to choose an insurance company before they assign one by default.

Three months.

http://www.bag.admin.ch/themen/krank...x.html?lang=en

I got mine after two months, by which time my canton had already sent me two helpful reminder letters. No rush, but the sooner the better I guess.

Hi and welcome

You do have 3 months to get it sorted in, but it's best to do it sooner. You will most likely be charged back from the date of your permit, altho' some we have done for clients recently have got away with just paying from the contract date, all depends on luck and how busy they are at the time....

Thanks, that's a great relief, I'll pay it as soon as I get my first pay then...
coming from the UK and having been out of work for a couple of months before being offered a job here, I'm trying to keep my expenses down until
I get paid....
Cheers... the thought of rotting in a Swiss Jail for not paying a couple of hundred Francs has now been removed....!!!