Hospitals and Clinics: Insurance for Semi-Private Wards Explained

The basic cover for hospital stays that you get with mandatory Swiss health insurance only covers stays in the general wards of hospitals approved by your canton. Because many people prefer not to share a hospital room with many other patients, many Swiss hospitals give you the option of staying in a two-person room for an extra fee.

What is semi-private ward hospital insurance?

Many Swiss health insurance providers offer voluntary, additional insurance that covers the added cost of staying in a room with just two beds. This insurance is commonly referred to as semi-private hospital insurance.

In addition to semi-private hospital insurance for two-patient rooms, insurers also offer supplementary general ward insurance, and supplemental private ward insurance (for a single room).

Which costs are covered by semi-private ward hospital insurance?

Supplemental hospital insurance for semi-private wards covers the additional fees charged by hospitals for stays in semi-private wards. This complements the basic hospital coverage included in mandatory health insurance.

Additionally, the insurance generally also covers the additional fees charged by hospitals for letting you choose which of the hospital’s doctors should supervise your case.

Other costs that may or may not be covered, depending on the specific semi-private hospital insurance offer, are:

• Stays at Swiss hospitals that are not on your canton’s list of approved hospitals.
• Stays at Swiss private clinics. Some insurance offers cover stays in the semi-private wards of private clinics in addition to public hospitals. You can filter many offers based on which clinics are covered in the hospital insurance comparison. Insurance providers also publish lists of the hospitals and clinics that are covered by different hospital insurance offers.
• Additional coverage for stays at psychiatric clinics.
• Medical emergencies outside of Switzerland.
• Planned treatments at hospitals outside of Switzerland.
• Ambulance transportation, search operations, and rescue operations (in addition to what is covered by mandatory health insurance).
• Rooming in (sleeping at the hospital when your insured child or spouse is hospitalized there, for example).
• Convalescence, including stays in two-bed rooms in rehabilitation clinics.
• Housekeeping (childcare or cleaning services during your hospitalization, for example).
• Additional benefits for maternity.

Not all semi-private hospital insurance offers include the possible additional benefits listed in the bullet points above. The benefits and coverages vary broadly between offers. You can use the filters in the interactive hospital insurance comparison to limit comparison results to offers that include the coverages you want.

Does the insurance cover the full cost?
That depends. Insurance deductibles vary between health insurance providers and offers. Some offers do not have an insurance deductible. Some insurance providers let you choose between several different insurance deductibles. Depending on the insurance provider, the options can be as low as zero francs (no deductible) or as high as 5000 francs.

How high are the insurance premiums?
Insurance premiums vary between offers. As a general rule, the more benefits an offer include, the higher the insurance premium is. However, even offers with similar coverages can have very different prices, so comparing is important.

Your age plays a major role in determining the premiums you pay. Most insurers use five-year age brackets for premiums. The older you are, the more you have to pay. This also applies after you get the insurance: Your premiums will be raised every time you reach a new age bracket.

Other factors that affect the cost of insurance are:

• Which insurance deductible you use. When you choose a high insurance deductible, you pay less for the insurance, but must cover that part of the cost out of your pocket.
• Including or excluding cover for accidents.
• Your gender (women often pay slightly higher premiums).
• Your lifestyle (whether or not you smoke, for example).
• Where in Switzerland you live.

Some insurance providers give you a discount when you pay your premiums annually instead of monthly. Insurers may also have discounts for long-term contracts (more than one year), family discounts, and discounts for non-smokers. Some offer fitness incentive apps that reward you with discounts for healthy lifestyle habits.

You can compare offers using the interactive hospital insurance comparison on moneyland.ch. Just select “Semi-private ward” under “Type of insurance” to compare semi-private hospital insurance offers.

Do I need hospital insurance for accidents?

Many hospital insurance providers let you choose whether to include or exclude cover for accidents. Excluding accidents lowers your insurance premium. When you exclude accident cover, the insurance only applies to hospitalization for illnesses, but not for accidents.

If you work for a Swiss employer more than eight hours per week, then your employer should insure you against both accidents in the workplace and accidents outside of the workplace. The basic, compulsory employer-based accident insurance covers stays in the general wards of Swiss hospitals. Some Swiss employers take out additional, supplementary accident insurance for their employees that covers the cost of stays in semi-private hospital wards. 

Before getting semi-private hospital insurance, take a moment to review the accident insurance that you get from your Swiss employer. If the cover is the same as what you get from semi-private ward hospital insurance, then there is no need to include accidents in your semi-private ward insurance. 

On the other hand, including accident cover is advisable if your employer only gives you the basic, compulsory accident insurance for general wards. The same holds true if you do not have employer-based accident insurance at all. In that case, you have to be insured by the basic accident cover you can add to your mandatory health insurance, which also only covers general wards.

Can an insurance company turn me down?

Yes. Unlike mandatory health insurance, which is available to all residents, getting voluntary insurance is not a legal right. Insurance companies can turn down applications for supplemental hospital insurance as they see fit. They may also have age limits for new applicants.

As a general rule, the older you are and the more health problems you have, the more likely it is that your application will be turned down.

Does getting semi-private ward hospital insurance make financial sense?

The more modern Swiss hospitals typically have smaller general wards that house just a handful of patients. Some general wards sleep just two patients, and there are even hospitals that are moving to house just one patient per room.

If your main motivation for getting semi-private ward hospital insurance is to be able to stay in a two-person room, then paying extra for this insurance is not always necessary. 

The important thing is to check your canton’s list of approved hospitals. You can find a link to the relevant website in the guide to Swiss hospital insurance for general wards. Once you know which hospitals are covered by your basic, mandatory health insurance, consider asking these hospitals how many beds are housed in their general wards. Some hospitals provide this information on their websites.

If the general wards of hospitals you would be treated in already have just two beds, then getting semi-private hospital insurance may not be necessary. However, it is worth considering the other coverages provided as well.

Flex hospital insurance is an interesting alternative if you are unlikely to need hospitalization, but would want a semi-private ward in the unlikely event that it ever became necessary. Flex insurance entitles you to the same benefits as semi-private ward insurance, but has much higher deductibles or coinsurance payments.

If you only want to insure the cost of stays in Swiss public hospitals that are not on your canton’s list, but are happy to stay in a general ward, getting supplemental general ward insurance is an affordable way to do that.

What is the difference between semi-private ward insurance and outpatient insurance?

Hospital insurance primarily covers the added costs of staying in hospital wards that are not covered by mandatory health insurance. Supplemental outpatient insurance, on the other hand, primarily covers additional costs of medical care without hospitalization, such as medicines and precautionary checkups at doctors and specialists.

However, some extra coverages that may be included in hospital insurance offers might also be included in some outpatient insurance offers. Examples include additional cover for medical emergencies outside of Switzerland, and for ambulances and rescue operations. If you already have complementary outpatient insurance, check which benefits it includes and avoid paying more for hospital insurance that also includes the same coverages.

More on this topic:
Compare supplemental hospital insurance offers now
Compare supplemental outpatient insurance offers now
Tips for choosing the right hospital insurance