Hi I have been living in Bern for about 3 weeks now and will be here until February 2012. I am still in the process of deciding what insurance is best for me and have a bit of a dilemma and really confused about what to do. I am wondering if anyone can clarify things for me as I am tempted to just fly back to the UK just to pick up some much needed antibiotics.

I had a test back in the beginning of August and was told I would get my results within 3 weeks. I got them back after 4 weeks and told I needed antibiotics. If I was in the UK I could just go and pick them up no problem from the doctor but here things are different. I have a EHIC and it says on the NHS website that it can be used if I go to a doctor registered with the public swiss health system, but I dont know where to find doctors under this public system. Does anyone know where I can find out information about doctors under this system in Bern? I have even tried going to a hospital emergency room asking for the medicine and saying they can call my doctor to ask about my test but they refuse to do that.
I cant get the medicine without a prescription so must find a doctor here. I am worried that I will have to re-take the test if they do not accept my UK doctor sending my test results over here. Do you think that would be allowed? And any idea on how much it would cost for a weeks dose of antibiotics?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Trying to understand the health care system here is still baffling me

Just ask here or colleagues, neighbours to recommend a doctor and go to see her/him with your test results. If you are here to work for more than a few months, you will have to find a health Insurance, which will be backdated to the day you arrived (tough if you arrive end of a month, as you will have to pay from the beginning of said month). Your EHIC is not valid for non emergency health care and/or if you are now resident here. If the worst come to the worst, you will have to pay for the doctors visit and the antibiotics- keep the receipts and then you might be re-imbursed by the Insurance once you have got one in place (remember though that most insurances have an excess, the higher the excess, the cheapest the Insurance). Do some research on this site- as there are many excellent stickies on how it works. Don't wait- if your condition needs antibiotics, the sooner the better. However, do keep in mind that good practice and doctoring does vary from country to country, and the doctor may not agree with the UK diagnosis.

Why can't you just go to the doctor's surgery and ask for the tests? Take your EHIC card and they will handle the paperwork.

If you are working here, your Krankenkasse payments will be back dated to your arrival date, so you can just go ahead and get some insurance. You need your permit. www.comparis.ch

I recommend this practice in Bern http://www.sanacare.ch/htm/praxen.ht...&navid=1&pid=3

Try going here:

Geschäftsstelle mediX bern
Bubenbergplatz 8
3011 Bern
Telefon Sekretariat 031 328 88 78

http://www.medix-bern.ch/