I have Health Insurance with the KPT and it costs me CHF 198 per month.

I have had it for three years since I became officially resident in Switzerland only because somebody told me I needed by law to take a Health Insurance Policy out.

I tried to cancel this policy a year ago by writing by recorded delivery to KPT informing them that I could no longer afford to make the monthly payments and that I therefore no longer could have a policy with them and to cancel it with immediate effect.

They sent me payment slips for a couple of months after that. I wrote to them again by recorded delivery informing them that I had cancelled the policy a couple of months before and enclosed a copy of the letter and receipt that it had been sent by recorded delivery.

For another three months I continued to receive monthly invoices with payment slips. I ignored them. i then received a letter warning of legal action for non payment.

I then wrote and e-mailed them telling them I owed them nothing because I had cancelled the policy nine months before.

I then received an e-mail telling me under section....blah blah blah that I cannot cancel the policy with them unless I can prove that I have an insurance policy with some other company or that I am no longer resident in Switzerland.

I paid up the arrears because I was not in Switzerland and did not believe my mother was capable of dealing with the issue.

How do I stand with regard to cancelling my Health Insurance policy?

They're right - you must have basic health insurance if you're resident in Switzerland. Either with this company or with another, but it is a requirement.

You'll find a lot of posts about health insurance requirements if you do a search of the forum.

If you've left Switzerland then you should have informed your commune of your departure and they would have issued you with a document noting your departure. You should have then sent this to your insurer and they would have cancelled your insurance.

I am officially resident in Switzerland and paying tax in Switzerland on earned income (though my worlwide income is worryingly low at the moment).

I was just surprised that that KPT insisted that they invoice for Health Insurance and expect me to pay; when I told them that due to my financial situation could no longer afford to have a ploicy with them and therfore was canceling it. I was brought up to buy only things that you can afford.

You are "resident" in Switzerland, you are paying tax in Switzerland, Compulsory health cover is essentially an extra 'tax' here - you are required to have it...and there is not any way of getting out of it.

Where do you live ? - how do you cover your medical bills where you are currently living ? - what would happen to you if you had a nasty accident, or sudeenly found out you had a serious medical illness ? - what health system would take you ?

The way I see it, you are either a "resident" or you are not - if you are, you have to abide by the laws of that country...

Swisspea is correct. You must pay for your health insurance and if you do not the KPT will pursue you into the courts.

If your circumstances have changed and you are in financial difficulty you could ask your commune for social assistance. However, if you own a property, as you have mentioned in another thread, it is unlikely you would get it.

You must do something about this as it’s not going to go away and will get a lot worse if you don’t.

My KPT Insurance is paid up to date.

I just be-grudge paying it as it is coming out of my capital that I saved my earnings on and paid tax on at the moment.

I have never claimed benefits in any country only paid taxes to governments (UK especially) that squander it.

By the way, isn't there some kind of no claim bonus for Health Insurance.
Fortunately I have never been ill, haven't used a doctor or hospital for over 20 years. I agree that day may come though.

In most Swiss contracts you have to observe a few months advance in rescinding, it's never on the spot. Can you really not afford 200 bucks a month? Since you were taught to be thrifty, I'd assume that you've drafted a budget plan. How much can you save if you cancel Internet phone and cable? As a last resort, you can try asking the Canton to pay the premia for you. They recently introduced this possibility seeing as many people were unable to afford basic insurance. In the past, in similar situations the insurance company would just cut the funding in case you went to the doctor/hospital, but the Govt didn't like this. The problem was, even if they sued you, you would just get a 'certificate of insufficient means' (or 'lacking wealth' to be literal) which would allow you to forfeit all debts and go on with your uninsured life. Despite this, fraud was rampant as many of these 'poor' were actually spending big on more superficial stuff in order to look like they had zero wealth.

Stay tuned, since heath insurance is a big topic in the media nowadays, and there will be a lot of changes.

As far as the basic insurance is concerned the conditions are standard with all companies. If you want to change insurers you have to give 3 months notice to cancel and the cancellation dates are 30th June or 31 December but, the cancellation only becomes effective if your existing insurer receives confirmation that you have arranged cover with another company. If they do not receive this then they remain your insurer.

If you leave Switzerland then you must follow the procedure mentioned in my previous post (dated 8/7/2009).

I can afford the CHF 200 a month but it is coming out of my savings.

I don't have internet, cable, TV or land line telephone in Switzerland. Just a swiss mobile phone which is pay as you go.

Before attempting to cancel my KPT Health plan I did check the terms. The terms were that you had to pay at least 12 months of premiums and then one months notice was sufficient. I had done everything correctly with regard to cancelling it; just not aware I could not cancel it.

At this moment in time I am not actually in Switzerland but in the UK trying to sort out re-establishing a business that I have moved into my UK home as the sale of the house fell through.

I do not want to become non resident from Switzerland now as it is my intentions to live there permanently

I have paid stacks of personal NI contributuions in the UK. have an EEC Health Card and Travel Insurance.

As said before I do not want to claim any benefits from any country but don't want to pay for services I do not need.

I have resigned myself to the fact that I shall have to continue making payments to KPT.

Anyone know if there are any cheaper policies; that was the cheapest I could find and it goes up a lot more than Swiss inflation every year.

Do you have the maximum excess/deducible ?
You could contact Jenny for a quotation.
As I mentioned in my previous post, you have to give 3 months notice if you want to change your insurer at the end of the year.

[quote=Blonaybear;493489]Do you have the maximum excess/deducible ?
You could contact Jenny for a quotation.
quote]

I gather you mean by this a No Claims Bonus?

I have been paying Swiss Health Insurance Premiums since November 2006 even though resident officially with the Comune since March 2005.
I have never made any Health or other Insurance claims.
I haven't visited a doctor or dentist for anything. I suppose I do not have one.

Are you sure about this, or is it just the accepted practice? don't think it's part of the contract... The insurance company is a private institution, it isn't liable for its clients' respect of the law.

Don't worry, dental care is not included, anyway (unless it's an emergency).

I think Blonanybear means Yearly Franchise, which is what you have to pay up front per year for any medical treatment before you can claim any money back. The maximum franchise you can have is 2500 CH a year, good for people like yourself who are never sick. If you just have KVG, which is the minimum by law, you can get it for a bit cheaper than 200 per month. As it appears to me, the reason that Switzerland has low rates of income tax compared to a lot of other wesetrn nations is that it has a user pays system for health and pensions, so you pay less tax but pay more on other services. Unfortunately its just something you have to live with.

That is a good point.

Wouldn't it be that I am within my contractural rights to cease the policy with the KPT and that I am ceasing it because I do not want to get into debt and then have court action against me for non payment of something I cannot afford?

Yes, I am sure about that.

You have to be insured, with an approved insurer, and if you give notice to cease your cover then your insurers have to receive confirmation from your new company that they are taking over. If this is not received then the existing insurer has to continue covering you and you have to pay their premium.

Just a further note to clarify something I wrote earlier regarding cancellation. To cancel by the end of June you have to give 3 months notice. To cancel by the end of December you also have to give 3 months notice unless your insurer has announced an increase in premiums for the following year. In this case you can give one months notice.

To get back to the original post, you cannot be resident in Switzerland without having an approved health insurance. You may have, so far, enjoyed excellent health but……
I also had a good health record with my only visits to the doctor being for the occasional check-up then, two years ago, I suddenly developed a condition. Total cost to my health insurer is currently over CHF 100,000, so far, and likely to increase.

Illness or accidents can strike at any time no matter how healthy you have been so far.