Finding The Right Swiss Health Insurance for Your Baby

Even your newborn can benefit from proper health insurance coverage. Basic Swiss health insurance coverage becomes obligatory shortly after your baby is born. Getting an additional supplementary insurance policy may also be beneficial.

Compulsory health insurance for babies

In Switzerland, even babies are required to be covered by basic health insurance. By the time your baby turns 3 months old, they will need to have their own health insurance policy.

Even if you only take out a compulsory policy after the baby is born, that policy will still cover the baby retrospectively, right back to their date of birth.

To find the best obligatory health insurance policy for your child, just enter their year of birth into the unbiased health insurance comparison by moneyland.ch (even if the child hasn’t been born yet). Adding the accident insurance rider is obligatory for children and babies.

Choosing the right deductible for your baby’s policy

You get to choose a deductible of either 0, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 or 600 francs. As a rule, a 0-franc deductible is usually the best-value option.

A coinsurance payment equal to 10 percent of any costs above your deductible applies, up to a maximum coinsurance of 350 francs per child per year. Interesting fact: If you have more than two children, your coinsurance payments will never be more than 700 francs per year for all your kids combined.

Obligatory health insurance: Benefits for your baby

Basic health insurance provides the same benefits, which are stipulated in Swiss law, to all policyholders. Benefits include coverage for recommended inoculations and up to 8 preventative examinations.

If you already have one or more children, you may want to include them in the comparison.

Reason: Some health insurance providers offer multiple-child discounts which are automatically accounted for by moneyland.ch. However, you are not required to insure all of your children at the same insurer, and you do not have to insure them with your insurance provider either. Check all options to find the best-value solution.

Supplemental health insurance: Benefits for your baby

Semi-private and private hospital ward insurance are not usually worth getting for your baby, because Swiss hospitals rarely offer special accommodation for babies. However, these policies do let you choose which of the hospital’s doctors or surgeons will handle your babies medical care, which may be desirable should an operation be required.

Even so, a growing number of parents take out semi-private or private ward hospital insurance for their baby ahead of its birth. The reason for this is that parents are concerned that insurers will refuse to cover their babies after birth, if they are born with serious health issues.

Getting an outpatient insurance policy for your baby can be beneficial. Just note that insurance companies have the right to set out criteria for acceptance, or even to reject your application altogether.

Supplementary insurance can pay off for both you and your baby. It should be taken out as soon after the birth as possible. Additional dental insurance is not particularly necessary because dental insurance for children is often included in outpatient insurance policies.

The supplementary outpatient insurance comparison tool from moneyland.ch helps you choose the right insurance policy. Just enter your baby’s gender and year of birth to get a list of relevant supplemental insurance policies which you can filter and sort based on many different criteria.

More on this topic:
Unbiased health insurance comparison
Supplementary outpatient insurance comparison