In Switzerland, compulsory health insurance (LAMal) covers you for a standard hospital room in the hospital in your canton of residence. That’s all. If you want more, you’ll need to take out supplementary hospital insurance. And this is where many people have been paying for years without having properly read what they’re actually paying for.
There are three levels: general (cover provided under the LAMal), semi-private (two-bed room) and private (single room with a guaranteed consultant). These supplementary insurance policies are not regulated by the LAMal but by the Insurance Contract Act (LCA), which makes a significant difference: the insurer can refuse to cover you if you have pre-existing conditions, can amend the terms and conditions with a certain amount of notice, and premiums rise quite noticeably with age. It is not the same system as basic health insurance.
The ‘semi-private’ plan typically costs between 30 and 80 francs a month, depending on your age and health insurance provider. In theory, it guarantees you free choice of hospital throughout Switzerland and greater say in the choice of your treating doctor. But in practice, this doesn’t always work out as people imagine: it depends on the hospital, the time of year and the agreement between your health insurance provider and that hospital. There are people who have been paying for semi-private cover for fifteen years and, the first time they go to hospital, discover that it doesn’t work exactly as they thought it would.
Most importantly: if you already have supplementary hospital insurance, read the policy document, not the sales brochure. If you’re thinking of taking out a policy, use comparison sites such as comparis.ch or moneyland.ch to see exactly what each policy covers before signing. And if you switch health insurers under the LAMal scheme, your supplementary cover doesn’t automatically transfer with you: they are separate contracts with different terms and conditions. This is something many people only realise when it’s too late.