As others have said, your premium is 300CHF/month.
The 2'500CHF is the franchise/deductible.
Once your medical costs go over this amount, the insurance company start to reimburse you.
Basic health insurance is a legal requirement for all residents in Switzerland so you have no choice but to take it out.
In some countries e.g. UK, you pay for the "free" national health service through your national insurance whether you use it or not.

Just like the NHS in England, the basic Swiss health insurance is a system which is based on solidarity between residents.

short'n'concise

Indeed; one can complain and rant etc., but it's mandatory nonetheless.

I think those who are sick would be happier not being sick and paying higher health insurance premiums.

Your premiums are likely to go down slightly then as the premiums are linked to your postcode and Geneva probably has the highest in the country.
You should also be aware that just because a particular company is competitive in one canton, it may or may not be in another.

Good info on this here :
http://www.bag.admin.ch/themen/krank...2c_JjKbNoKSn6A

More info on cost sharing :

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

you make it sound like I was complaining about it. It's normal that people are in good health should take care of those who are not.

No probs. A lot do complain without thinking and looking at the bigger picture as to why this system exists in the first place.

Solidarity and caring is an easier concept for some than others unfortunately

I'm just curious if anyone knows whether any of the International Insurers (such as Bupa, etc) are acceptable as insurance cover in Switzerland. I have insurance in the US, and my insurer has coverage in Switzerland for Doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, etc. I have no idea whether this is acceptable to the authorities, who (I'm certain) want you to support the Swiss Insurance Cartel, and not some external insurance company. It would be lovely not to have to make insurance payments in 2 systems.

Use the forum search http://www.englishforum.ch/search2.php?q=bupa


and you will find, among others, this thread:

BUPA is approved heath insurance provider in Switzerland?

Are you a resident here or only here on a very time-limited international assignment?

If you are resident in CH, as mentioned a trillion times on this forum, you have no choice and have to take out Swiss health insurance.
Also, p*ssing on the Swiss insurance systems isn't helpful if you're looking for advice about them.

Read up on the subject and ask again after having done so, if you still have questions.
Thanks.

I rather like the Swiss health system. It is very similar to the US, fee for service, expensive, no waiting lists, and plenty of Specialists. And In the US, Insurance is now mandatory. However no restrictions whatsoever on which Insurance company you choose, as long as it meets certain standards for coverage. Now the Swiss Insurance Industry, on the other hand, why does it need protection from the government from international competition??


Anyway I suppose the thing to do is . . . choose France (I'm resident there) but never register with a GP in France, and just use my American Insurance in Switzerland. By the time the French authorities figure out that I owe them for social benefits that I never used, then I will have surely have moved somewhere else . . .

Ahem.

Contributions get taken out of your salary anyway don't they?

http://about-france.com/health-care.htm

So you'll still be paying for two systems.

Do you know of an insurance company that pays the medical providers directly? I may need an expensive operation and cannot pay the hospital thousands of francs and then wait to get reimbursed my 90%. Or do hospitals sometimes agree to wait until the insurance company pays and then collect from the patient? Thanks for any help on this.

I am with Visana and they re-imburse very quickly, but they are all a bit different.

Hospitals usually charge insurance companies directly, but maybe you can ask your insurance company?

We're with CSS and they take the bills and then send you their invoices for your share. Works for hospitals, doctors, pharmacy, etc. All bill direct to CSS then we get our invoice from them for our bit.

I'm with SWICA, and they normally do a Kostengutsprache - meaning that the Hospital requests the Money directly from SWICA instead of getting the Money from me. Ask your Hospital to do so if they don't do it directly themselves already. Never had a Problem, and I get the invoice for the costsharing afterwards

Thank you!

Thank you!

I think most of them do. I think normally insurance companies dont want you paying for it first because they want to check if the bill is correct. Im with Assure and i think they are the exception. I am planning on changing at the end of the year.

Don't worry, the procedure is different for operations!
First, you will have to "register" with the hospital before the operation. Your doctor should take care of this. Then you will receive an information pack from the hospital, including forms to inform the hospital of your insurance. Then the hospital will contact the insurer and they will bill them directly! Finally, you will receive a bill from the insurer.

We're with groupe mutuel and they also pay all the bills directly (with the exception of the GP who bills us first for some reason) and then send a bill to us for the bit we're responsible for.

For hospital stays I think they always send the bills to the insurance directly.

How long does it usually take for health insurance to be sorted out? I sent off forms by post last week but my 3 month time window between arriving and getting insured runs out on 13th July. So I have about 2 weeks left - should this be enough time for my application to be completed?


Thanks!

I should say, I applied to Groupe Mutuel and have now seen earlier posts from people saying that they never received any confirmation from them after applying even though it was all set up