Health Insurance Splitting: Can It Save You Money?

Many people in Switzerland use the same health insurance company for both mandatory and complementary health insurance. But that is not always the best solution. In this guide, moneyland.ch explains the advantages and disadvantages of splitting your health insurance across more than one insurance provider.

Can I even use different health insurance providers for my mandatory and supplemental insurance?

Yes. Your mandatory health insurance and each supplemental health insurance is a separate contract. It is perfectly possible to get each type of health insurance from a different health insurance provider.

What are the advantages of splitting your mandatory and supplemental health insurance?

Using different insurance providers has a number of advantages. These main advantages are:

• Cost savings

It is very rare for the same health insurance provider to have the most favorable prices for mandatory and supplementary health insurance. Likewise, an insurer may have low premiums for supplementary outpatient insurance, but less favorable premiums for hospital insurance or dental insurance. Using more than one insurer lets you get the most favorable pricing for each insurance type.

Another way in which splitting saves you money: It frees you to always get the most affordable mandatory health insurance each year, without your supplemental insurance being affected.

• Better insurance cover

The cost of insurance is only part of the story. Unlike mandatory health insurance cover, which is dictated by law, each supplemental health insurance varies in terms of what is covered, and which deductibles and limits apply. Even with mandatory health insurance, customer service can vary broadly between health insurance providers.

It is very unlikely that just one health insurance provider will have the best possible insurance cover for all of your needs. Comparing offers from multiple providers based on their insurance cover can help you get the best possible insurance for medical expenses.

What are the disadvantages of using more than one health insurance provider?

There are some important disadvantages as well. The main disadvantages are:

• More effort is required

If you use just one health insurance company for your mandatory and supplemental insurance, you only have to submit your medical bills once. The insurance company takes care of sorting out which part is covered by which insurance.

But when you use separate insurers, you have to submit your bills to each of them separately. You also have to make sure that your doctor or other healthcare provider gives you copies of the bills that you can send to your various insurance providers.

Another point to look out for is how medical care is declared on invoices. If, for example, you have supplemental outpatient insurance that covers preventative checkups, you have to make sure that doctors declare a checkup as such, and not as a visit due to illness.

You also need to account for annual statements from all your health insurers when filling out your tax declarations.

• No multiple-policy discounts

There are health insurance providers that give you discounts when you get more than one type of health insurance from them. If your main reason for splitting your health insurance is to save on costs, it is worth accounting for possible multiple-policy discounts when comparing offers.

• Possible higher deductibles

There are certain Swiss health insurance providers that use just one insurance deductible or coinsurance payment for both your mandatory and supplementary health insurance – if you get both from them. When this is the case, splitting your insurance means you do not benefit from this deductible model.

Is using multiple health insurance providers worth the inconveniences?

Getting the best possible health insurance cover for your specific needs is the biggest argument for using different health insurance providers. While mandatory insurance only differs in terms of costs and customer service, choosing supplemental offers carefully is much more important. That is especially true in the case of outpatient insurance. You can find links to useful overviews of cover for many different healthcare costs in the guide to costs that may be covered by supplemental outpatient insurance.

Cutting the cost of supplemental health insurance alone may not always be enough to justify the inconvenience of having to submit claims to two or even three different insurance providers. But being able to change your mandatory health insurance provider as cheaper offers become available can save you hundreds or even thousands of francs per year.

More on this topic:
Compare mandatory health insurance offers now
Compare supplemental hospital insurance offers now
Compare supplemental outpatient insurance offers now
What does Swiss mandatory health insurance cover?
Which costs may be covered by supplemental health insurance?