Your questions – our answers

There are a number of ways to reduce your premium, which we’ve listed below. We’re also happy to advise you personally.

• Increase the deductible for your basic insurance. Choosing a higher deductible automatically lowers your monthly premiums, enabling you to save up to CHF 1,000 a year!
  Want to know more about your deductible and copayment? Watch our video for more information.
  
• Choose an alternative insurance model. This way, you benefit from attractive discounts. Sanitas offers various alternative insurance models for basic insurance.
  
• You’ll find more ways to reduce your premiums here.
• Contact your service centre. We’ll be happy to advise you personally and explain how you can optimise your premium. You’ll find the contact details in your policy document and on your insurance card.
  

Switzerland has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. This first-class care comes at a cost, which is reflected in health insurance premiums. Below we’ve listed the key factors that drive up the costs of basic and supplementary insurance. There are often also premium regions where the premiums for basic insurance remain the same or even decrease. And with supplementary insurance there are always plans for which the premiums remain stable.

Factors affecting premiums:

• Advances in medicine, with improved and sometimes more expensive treatments and equipment.
  
• The increasing proportion of older people in the population and their demand for medical care.
  
• More and more treatments in hospitals are carried out on an outpatient basis. This shift is being driven by the government, and is actually a good idea. However, it does result in higher premiums for people with insurance. Why? The costs of outpatient hospital treatment are borne entirely by the health insurance companies or the people insured, while the cost of inpatient treatment is largely financed by taxpayers’ money.
  

Our video “Why are premiums increasing?” explains the key facts simply and clearly in no time at all.

The average values for basic insurance communicated in the media usually have no bearing on your individual premium. There are a number of reasons for this:

Benefit costs in your region: The Federal Office of Public Health stipulates that premiums must cover the costs in each region. Premiums primarily reflect the benefit costs of a health insurer, which is the costs they pay out for doctors, therapists, hospital stays and drugs. The cost of benefits can vary considerably depending on a number of factors, including the structure of a health insurer’s customer base and the insureds’ place of residence. That’s why the premium of 44-year-old Mr M. living in canton X differs from the premium of 44-year-old Mr B. living in canton Y.

How the FOPH calculates premiums
Since 2018, the FOPH has used a new figure when it communicates premiums. Instead of publishing the change in standard premium, the change in average premium is used instead. This average value is more representative, because along with the elective deductible, alternative insurance model, premium region, etc., it also takes into account the lower premiums for young adults.

Your premium can vary if you’ve

• chosen a higher deductible,
  
• opted for an alternative insurance model
  
• excluded accident cover.
  
  

Supplementary insurance: If you’ve taken out one or more supplementary insurance plans, bear in mind that the information published by the Federal Office of Public Health refers only to the basic insurance premium. When comparing this figure with your policy, refer only to your basic insurance premium and not the ones for supplementary insurance.

The Swiss healthcare system attaches great importance to the concept of solidarity for basic insurance. This means that all adults in a single premium region pay the same premium for basic insurance regardless of whether they are sick or healthy, old or young, male or female. You’re one of the lucky ones who are in good health. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that you won’t have to pay a higher premium if you happen to fall ill at some time in the future.

This principle of solidarity is an integral part of the Swiss health insurance act. It gives you the security that you won’t face financial ruin as a result of huge illness-related costs in the event of an emergency.

That’s not necessarily true. Our promotional activities are designed primarily to communicate information about innovative products and services and thus attract new customers to Sanitas. Winning new customers each year is a crucial factor in maintaining the stability and security of a health insurance company. Ultimately, this benefits all Sanitas customers.

Advertising can also play a key role in improving the cost-awareness of our customers. Since the launch of our online customer portal and the associated communication measures, some 200,000 customers have switched to electronic – and paper-free – correspondence with Sanitas. This saves paper, postage costs and is environmentally friendly.

Last but not least, our figures show that foregoing promotional activities has little impact on cost-savings, because the advertising expenditure makes up a very small amount of the monthly premium at Sanitas, amounting to less than 1 franc of an average monthly premium. In other words, cutting the entire advertising budget would have a negligible effect on premiums.

And did you know that, for every 100 francs you pay in premiums, around 95 are invested directly in medical services, i.e. hospitalisation, therapies, lab expenses and medicines?

Sanitas works on a daily basis to keep the growth of healthcare costs as moderate as possible.

• We review up to 650,000 invoices each month to identify unjustifiably high or uninsured benefits and thereby reduce costs.
• We follow up on information from our customers about questionable invoicing.
• We regularly negotiate tariffs with healthcare providers such as hospitals.
  

• Our case management team supports and advises customers experiencing difficult health situations. Proper coordination between doctors, therapists and other involved parties plays a crucial role in optimising the recovery process.
  
• Working together with our independent partner Medgate, we offer our customers free medical advice around the clock. This service is particularly useful at night or at the weekend, because it puts your mind at ease and enables you to postpone any necessary visit to the doctor to regular practice opening hours, thus avoiding expensive emergency costs.
• It has been proven that alternative insurance models help reduce costs. Sanitas offers various alternative insurance models for basic insurance.

In an effort to reduce environmental pollution for the sake of our health and the climate, the Swiss federal government implemented environmental levies on pollutants in 2008. The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) is responsible for distributing the levies to members of the public, which it does so via the health insurers. In 2021, you will be refunded a total of CHF 87 from the revenue generated by the environmental levies (CO2 and VOC levy). Each month, CHF 7.25 will be offset against your premium. This amount is stated in your policy and premium invoices.

You will receive the official information sheet from the FOEN with your policy for 2021. You can also find it here: Information sheet on environmental levies