Glasses and Contact Lenses: What Does Swiss Health Insurance Cover?

Does your Swiss health insurance cover the cost of prescription glasses and contact lenses, or laser vision correction surgery? Here, moneyland.ch gives you a clear overview of what is covered by different Swiss health insurances and insurance providers.

1. Mandatory health insurance
2. Supplemental health insurance (with a detailed comparison)
3. Accident insurance
4. Disability insurance

1. Mandatory health insurance

Does Swiss mandatory health insurance cover glasses and contact lenses for children?

Mandatory Swiss health insurance covers prescription glasses and contact lenses for children up to the age of 18. You can claim up to 180.67 francs per year and child.

Does Swiss mandatory health insurance cover glasses and contact lenses for adults?

In most cases, glasses and contact lenses are not covered by mandatory health insurance. But there are some exceptions to this rule.

No matter what your age is, you can claim up to 180.67 francs per year from your mandatory health insurance towards the cost of glasses or contact lenses in these cases:

• The fault in your vision resulted from an illness.

• The fault in your vision resulted from use of medication.

• The glasses or contact lenses are required as part of eye-surgery treatments.

Contact lenses are also covered, up to a maximum of 271 francs per eye every two years, if you have certain visual disorders that cannot be fully corrected with glasses:

• Anisometropia with a prescription of 3.0 dioptres or more.

• Astigmatism with a prescription of -3.0 dioptres or worse.

• Hyperopia (farsightedness) with a prescription of +6.0 or worse.

• Myopia (nearsightedness) with a prescription of -8.0 or worse.

Glasses and contact lenses are covered up to a maximum of 632.34 francs per pair (per eye for contact lenses) if you have one of these conditions:

• Defective iris

• Irregular astigmatism

• Illnesses or injuries to the cornea (including the recovery period after corneal surgery)

Does mandatory health insurance cover laser eye surgery?

No. Laser vision correction is not covered by mandatory health insurance.

Does mandatory health insurance cover visual training?

No. Swiss compulsory health insurance does not include benefits for visual training.

2. Supplemental health insurance

Does my Swiss supplementary health insurance cover glasses and contact lenses?

That depends on which supplemental health insurance offer you use. You can find the offers that include coverage for glasses and contact lenses in the table below.

Does my Swiss complementary health insurance cover laser vision correction?

A few supplementary health insurance offers do include coverage for laser vision correction treatments. You can find them using the table below.

Is visual training covered by Swiss supplemental health insurance?

Most supplemental insurance offers do not cover visual training. However, there are a handful of offers that include this coverage in their special benefits for the promotion of health and wellbeing.

Supplemental health insurance coverage for glasses and contact lenses, laser vision correction, and visual training

The data in the table above has been compiled by moneyland.ch as per information published by Swiss health insurance companies as per October 2025. However, it is a good idea to double check the information by inquiring with your health insurance provider directly before you make a purchase.

Does my insurance deductible apply?

For mandatory health insurance, the deductible and coinsurance always apply. For supplementary health insurance, deductibles can vary between individual coverages in the same policy. Ask your insurer or check the terms and conditions of your supplemental health insurance policy to find out which deductible applies to glasses and contact lenses, laser eye correction, and visual training.

Are pre-existing eye conditions covered by Swiss health insurance?

As a general rule, you can claim insurance benefits for glasses and contact lenses even if you already had poor eyesight at the time that you got the insurance.
However, supplemental health insurance offers often have qualification periods (one year, for example), especially for laser vision correction. In that case, you can only claim insurance benefits for purchases you make or treatments you get after the qualification period expires.

3. Accident insurance

The mandatory accident insurance that you get through your Swiss employer covers the cost of replacing prescription glasses that are damaged in accidents which also cause you physical injury.

4. Disability insurance

Swiss social disability insurance (DI) covers the cost of prescription glasses if they are considered necessary for reintegration into the job market, and add substantial value in this regard, above what can be done using medical means. Coverage for glasses frames is limited to a maximum of 150 francs.

Contact lenses are covered if they are considered a necessary replacement to glasses.

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