Swiss basic insurance is identical at every insurer by law, but the price for it varies by thousands of francs a year. Here are the three dates that decide your year, the three things you can change, and what the federal premium data actually shows.
Nishant Modi
August 4, 202613 min read
Cover
Swiss basic health insurance is the same product everywhere. The law fixes what it covers, and every approved insurer has to accept you. And yet in a single Zürich postcode the price for that identical product ranges from CHF 517.70 to CHF 724.00 a month.
That is CHF 2,476 a year, for cover that is legally indistinguishable. Nothing about your treatment changes. Only the invoice does. This guide covers the dates, the mechanics and the two things you can actually change, using the Federal Office of Public Health's published premium data for 2026.
The policy is identical. The price is not.
Basic insurance is governed by the Federal Health Insurance Act. The catalogue of treatments, medicines and examinations it pays for is set nationally, so an appendectomy is covered on exactly the same terms whether your card says CSS, Assura or Atupri. Insurers cannot compete on what they cover, cannot refuse you for a pre-existing condition and cannot charge you more because of your medical history.
What they can do is charge different amounts. Premiums are approved per insurer, per premium region, per age band, per franchise and per insurance model. There are about 40 insurers and up to three premium regions in a canton, which produces a wide price band in every corner of the country.
Adult premium, franchise CHF 300, accident cover included, 2026. One postcode per canton: Zug 6300, St. Gallen 9000, Zürich 8001, Bern 3011, Basel 4051, Lugano 6900, Genève 1201. Cheapest, average and most expensive approved option in each.
Two things stand out. First, the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive approved option is not a rounding error anywhere: it runs from about CHF 2,000 to CHF 3,700 a year depending on the region. Second, the ranking of insurers changes from region to region. The company that is cheapest in Bern is not the one that is cheapest in Lugano. There is no nationally cheapest insurer, only a cheapest insurer for your postcode.
The three dates that decide your year
The whole thing runs on a fixed annual calendar, and almost every mistake is a missed date rather than a wrong choice.
End of September. The Federal Office of Public Health publishes every approved premium for the following year, and your insurer sends you your own new premium in writing. This is the starting gun, and it is also the moment the comparison is worth doing, because the figures you compared in August are last year’s.
30 November. Your written cancellation has to have reached your current insurer. Not been posted, reached. This is also the date that always works for changing your franchise or your model with your existing insurer.
1 January. The new policy starts. Cover must be continuous, with no gap of even one day, which is why the old insurer will only release you once the new one has confirmed.
There is a fourth, softer date worth knowing: priminfo, the federal premium information service, advises sending your application to the new insurer by 15 December. The legal deadline is the cancellation on 30 November, but leaving the application to the last days of December is how people end up with paperwork stuck between two companies over the holidays.
What you can actually change
Three levers, and they are independent. You can pull one, two or all three.
The franchise
The franchise is what you pay yourself before the insurer starts paying. Adults choose between CHF 300, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 and 2,500. A higher franchise means a lower premium, and the trade is arithmetic, not opinion.
Cheapest approved adult option at each franchise level, postcode 8001 Zürich, 2026. Monthly premium in CHF.
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In this postcode, moving from the CHF 300 franchise to the CHF 2,500 franchise cuts the cheapest available premium from CHF 517.70 to CHF 389.40 a month, which is CHF 1,540 less over the year. Against that, you are accepting CHF 2,200 more of your own costs before cover starts. Above the franchise you also pay 10 per cent of costs as a retention, capped at CHF 700 a year for adults and CHF 350 for children.
Whether that trade is worth taking depends on costs you cannot know in advance, which is why this article does not tell you which franchise to pick. It is your own expected medical spending against those two numbers.
The insurance model
The standard model lets you go to any doctor. The alternatives ask you to make first contact through a defined route, and pay you a discount for it: a designated family doctor, an HMO group practice, or a telemedicine line you call before you make an appointment. The benefits you receive are unchanged, because the law does not let them change.
In postcode 8001 Zürich in 2026, at the CHF 300 franchise, the cheapest standard model is CHF 605.20 a month and the cheapest HMO model is CHF 517.70. That is CHF 1,050 a year for agreeing to a first point of contact. Family doctor and telemedicine models sit in between, at CHF 522.80 and CHF 527.90.
The insurer
And then there is simply moving to a different company for the same franchise and the same model. This is the one with no behavioural change at all attached to it, and in most regions it is also the largest single lever.
How the switch works, step by step
Wait for the new premiums at the end of September. Comparing before then compares figures that are about to be replaced.
Compare on your postcode, not your canton. Premium regions are drawn below canton level, and neighbouring communes can sit in different ones.
Compare like for like: same franchise, same model, same accident-cover setting. Accident cover can be excluded if you are employed at least eight hours a week and covered through your employer, and that changes the price.
Apply to the new insurer, and get their confirmation that cover starts on 1 January.
Send the cancellation to the old insurer by registered post so that it arrives by 30 November. Keep the receipt.
Check the January invoice. Set up the payment. Cancel the old standing order only once the final statement has cleared.
If you are staying with the same insurer and only changing franchise or model, it is the same 30 November deadline and a single form, usually online.
Supplementary insurance is a different contract
This is where switching goes wrong. Supplementary insurance, the cover for private hospital rooms, dental work, glasses, alternative medicine and travel, sits under insurance contract law rather than the health insurance act. That means the insurer can ask health questions, can refuse you, can exclude conditions and can hold you to a multi-year term.
Practical consequences: keep the two decisions separate. You can move your basic insurance and leave the supplementary policy exactly where it is, with a different company. Never cancel a supplementary policy until the replacement is confirmed in writing. And read the notice period on the supplementary contract itself, because it is often three months to the end of the year, not 30 November.
What can stop a switch going through
Unpaid premiums. If you still owe your current insurer, the switch can be blocked. Clear the account before the deadline rather than discovering the problem in December.
The cancellation arriving late. 30 November is the date it has to be in their hands. Registered post, sent in the first half of November, removes the argument.
A gap in cover. Basic insurance is compulsory and cannot lapse. The old policy ends on 31 December and the new one starts on 1 January.
Comparing on the wrong postcode. Moving house and comparing on the old address produces a price you will not be offered.
Can you switch in the middle of the year?
Sometimes. If you hold the standard model with the lowest franchise, the law also lets you change insurer as of 30 June, with three months of notice, so the cancellation has to arrive by 31 March. If you are on an alternative model or a raised franchise, that door is closed and the end of December is your only exit.
There is one more route. When your insurer notifies you of a premium increase, you get a short window to cancel in response to that notification, even outside the ordinary rules. In practice this is the same autumn window as everyone else, because the notification arrives with the September figures.
If the premium is the problem, not the insurer
Every canton runs an income-based premium reduction scheme, and the thresholds are more generous than most people assume, particularly for families and for young adults in education. The scheme is administered cantonally, the application deadlines differ, and in several cantons you have to apply each year rather than being enrolled automatically. It is worth checking your own canton’s rules before assuming you do not qualify.
Children and young adults are also priced differently: in postcode 8001 Zürich in 2026 the cheapest adult option at the CHF 300 franchise is CHF 517.70 a month, against CHF 371.20 for a young adult aged 19 to 25 and CHF 120.30 for a child. Households with several children should compare as a household rather than person by person, because the discount for the second and further children only applies within a single insurer.
The bottom line
Basic health insurance is the largest household bill in Switzerland where the product is fixed by law and the price is not. The comparison takes an evening, once a year, in the eight weeks between the end of September and 30 November. Everything else about your health cover stays exactly the same.
This article explains published rules and published figures. It is general information, not advice on your own situation.
Frequently asked questions
Your written cancellation has to reach your current insurer by 30 November for cover to end on 31 December. It is a receipt deadline, not a postmark deadline, so send it registered and send it early. The federal information site priminfo recommends completing the application with the new insurer by 15 December.
Yes. The catalogue of benefits in basic insurance (KVG/LAMal) is set by federal law, so every approved insurer covers exactly the same treatments and medicines. Every insurer also has to accept every applicant for basic insurance regardless of age or state of health. What differs is the price, the service and the supplementary products they sell alongside it.
It depends entirely on where you live, because premiums are set per premium region. In postcode 8001 Zürich in 2026, the cheapest approved adult option at the CHF 300 franchise is CHF 517.70 a month and the most expensive is CHF 724.00, a difference of CHF 2,476 a year for identical legal cover. In Genève the same comparison spans CHF 3,714 a year.
Only in limited cases. If you are on the standard model with the lowest franchise, you can also change insurer as of 30 June, with three months of notice, so by 31 March. If you have an alternative model such as family doctor, HMO or telemedicine, or a higher franchise, the end of December is your only exit.
Nothing automatically. Supplementary insurance is a separate contract under different law, with its own notice periods, and the insurer may refuse you or ask health questions. Never cancel supplementary cover before you have the new policy confirmed in writing, and treat the two decisions independently.
Not for basic insurance, as long as your account is clear. If you still owe premiums or cost-sharing, the switch can be blocked, so settle any outstanding bills well before the deadline. Otherwise the old insurer simply has to release you once the new one confirms cover starting the day the old one ends. There must be no gap.
About the author
Nishant Modi
Founder of hopli. Building personal finance tools for Swiss households.
