Hi All,

I arrived into Switzerland on 03/10/2009 and have since got my category B Auslander Ausweis. I have found a job and am looking at buying my health insurance as my Germeinde (Stadt Opfikon) have asked for a copy by 20th November.

Now my problem is that the quotes ive got from Comparis under the bit for 'new into Switzerland' all seem to start on 01/01/2010 but Ive been told by a friend that my cover must start from my day of entry?

Ive also heard something about a 3month rule, so does this mean I can wait until 3/01/2010 before I must be covered or is it true that my cover must start from 03/10/2009 or immediately?

I hope this is clear and thank you in advance....

Sonny

Hi Sunny,

When you arrive to CH you have up to 3 months from your entrance (subscription in the Gemeinde) to choose and sign a contract with a Health insurance.
You are obliged to take the basis coverage, otherwise called "Grundversicherung".
Your Gemeinde will be reminding you many times during this 3 months period and if you fail to sign one yourself at the end of the 3 months, they will close a contract for you (that is at least what my Gemeinde told me in one of their reminder letters!).

Now, say you signed a contract - before the end of the 3 months - make sure you tell the insurance to send your Gemeinde immediatly a letter to inform them you signed with them. Your contract will date back to the date of your entrence in the country.

I used Comparis too, but I remebere it was possible to date offers back.
If not, contact insurance directly and ask for a quotation.

Good luck!
TAE

I went through a broker who gave me a deal that was cheaper than anything I could find on Comparis.

I was fully expecting to have to pay back to my date of entry. However the broker advised me to put a start date of xxx (around 2 months after my arrival) rather than my entry date & all went through fine.

If you want his details PM me, he's been great to deal with.

Insurance starts from your date of entry in Switzerland. There's no getting around this in my experience. The only advantage: you can give medical bills from your date of entry to the insurance company. Practically this almost never happens.

when I moved here I was extremely lax with sorting this out, in the end I just put a start date of 3 months after I moved to start paying the insurance and had no problems, which I eventually sorted after 4 months.

If you don't sign up (or don't tell the authorities when you have) they'll send you letter after letter until you do, including one saying they'll pick one for you as in the previous post. I still have mine as a souvenir

If you don't have coverage when you enter you will be required to pay from the date of entry. I almost got f'd by this when I got here. I arrived on the 31st of July and if I didn't have coverage of my own when I entered they wanted to charge me the whole month of July. Luckily I had travelers insurance...

You should have insurance when you first arrive as a precaution but as long as you have health cover form you country of origin you have 3 momths or until you register with the local "gemeinde". When I "anmelded" I had to provide details of my health insurance before I could complete the registration. Having said that each Canton may have different rules and depending on the person you are dealing with as some Swiss can be very particular but you can find some who are more flexible. I did not have health insurance for my first 6 weeks but needed it so that I could anmeld.

Thanks for all the responses people.

Seems pretty clear but the only thing I must decide is whether to risk just going ahead and buying the policy which starts on 1st January (2 days before my 3month limit is up) or contacting the companies direct to get the start date put back to my date of entry. Any other specific stories relating to this? Im siding on the option of risking it to save a few hundred francs.

Thanks again

Jenny from this forum took care of the health insurance paperwork for me, and directly negotiated with the HI company so that I wouldn't have to make back-payments starting from my 'registration' date in Switzerland. It might be easier for you to do the same, rather than risking it by yourself.
Her services are free, so it is definitely worth contacting her.

I didn't backdate to the day I arrived - only to the day 3 months after I arrived (as I was sooo late)

Hi Mag,
How can I get in touch with Jenny ?
Thanks in advance.

Thanks again all. Does anybody know how I can get in touch with Jenny?

Here you go, send her a PM via this Forum: http://www.englishforum.ch/members/610-jenny.html

I can also thoroughly recommend Jenny; she does all my insurances and the process has always been very hassle-free.

kodokan

Hi, sorry I didn't see this earlier.
Kodokan has provided a link to contact Jenny (thanks!) but in case you ever need to find someone on the forum, you can go to Search > Advanced search > Search by User Name.