As you may already know, some cantons in Switzerland are split into zones. The law says a maximum of 3 per canton.

There are few cantons with 3 zones - Zurich, Berne, Vaud, for example.
others with 2 - Valais, Fribourg
and others (usually the smaller ones) without - e.g. Geneva.

The zones are not geographic but they do determine premiums for basic insurance (no change for supplementary).

Now........

As of the 1st of January 2009, the zones in Vaud will change.

Zone 3 will disappear and become Zone 2.

Most of Zone 2 will become Zone 1 (but not all of it)

What does this mean?

Well, as a general rule the premiums in zone 1 of any canton are higher than those in zone 2. Therefore, if you are currently in a zone 2 area in Vaud (Vevey, Montreux, Chavannes, Ecublens, Morges, Nyon, Gland etc. etc.) your premiums are likely to go up for 2009.

N.B. This is in no way linked to your company putting the premiums up! It is as if you were moving house.

If you are in Vaud and would like more info., just let me know

(For anyone living in Lausanne, this won't affect you at all )

__________________
Inswift Sàrl

It's a good think I'm leaving then!!
Just joking...

Do you have a map of the zones in Vaud?

No, there is no map as the zones are not necessarily geographic. What's your postcode?

Hi Jenny

Thanks for this, it great to know someone shares this type of info with us

Is this relevant for all insurances (car, household content, building etc)

Do you know what is happening to Savigny (1073) - sorry I know this is a selfish question and probably isn't valif for many EFers

Thanks
Nats

This is only relevant for health insurance.

1073 Savigny is currently zone 2 and will change to a zone 1 as of 01.01

How does geographical location effect health insurance, that makes no sense.

An overweight, smoker suffering from type 2 diabetes who drinks a crate of beer every day and takes no exercise can pay less insurance then someone who exercises regularly, doesn't smoke or drink based on living a few km's apart... that's ridiculous.

That's like saying someone who crashes cars on a regular basis is a less of a risk then someone who has never had an accident because they live closer to a river!

There is a correlation between doctor density and the frequency people get medical treatment. Some rural areas like Appenzell are significantly below the national average.

Of course that can be interpreted as a chicken vs. egg situation...

Yea, but insurance is based on sharing the risk. People who are at a higher risk generally pay a higher premium (I know, someone is going to mention risk equalisation etc. I'm being a little simplistic)... but the distribution of the service the insurance is required for should not affect the risk of the person paying the premium. It seems very unfair to me, or am I missing something?

Insurance is based on solidarity and in that sense yes, is based on sharing the risk.

However, the risk is only shared with the other people who are insured in your own company - not with those of another company.

Nathu is correct in that statistically, people who have to drive 20 minutes to see a GP go less to the doctor than someone living in a town with a doctor living/working next door.
They tend to only visit a doctor when they really need to.

If people in cities visited doctors at the same frequency as those in the countryside then premiums would be the same across the board (in theory).

It's not only doctor density though, it is also based on consumption and hospital prices.

That's just the way it is over here. There's not much I can do about it. I just have to work in this system and pay my premiums like everyone else - I too am going from zone 2 to zone 1

Another point which might interest you is that in general, women pay more for supplementary/complementary than men of the same age purely because of maternity. Should men pay more for their supplementary because of women having high hospitalisation costs at the time of birth?

Probably. But then, what about women who can't have children? They still pay more than men whose wives are having children - the same as women who can have children. Is that fair?

We could separate the insurance out even further and have "maternity" and "non-maternity" options but the prices for the maternity option would be ridiculous.

We could go on and on for hours with all sorts of examples about what we feel the fairest system would be and why the current one isn't etc.

I just put this thread up to warn us Vaudois of the upcoming change.

Right, postcode anyone?

__________________
Inswift Sàrl

Do you have any idea of what the percentage increase may be???



Thanks
Nats

I've also heard that premiums in Vaud are already some of the highest in the country - apparently the local culture encourages more frequent visits to the doctor than does the culture in other parts of the country.

It's not gonna be huge.

Apparantly there'll be around a 2% increase in general (depending on who you're with) at the end of this year anyway.

The changing of zones will put this up a little.

Example.

For adults (26+) Assura MF (their GP method) without accident at 1'500.- is currently :

zone 2 : 204.90
zone 1 : 224.80

If this goes up by about 2% = 229.30

If you're currently in a zone 2 area, in this example, your premiums will go up by about 25.-/month (300.- p.a.)

Like I say, we won't be 100% certain of the premiums before October.

__________________
Inswift Sàrl

Thanks for the postings. How about 1299?

Hi there,

I was in 1299 just last week! Had a great evening

Yep, 1299 is changing to zone 1 too.