Healthcare costs can put a strain on the household budget, especially for families. The following tips can help you save money on your premiums - and find additional ways of getting a discount.
Sanitas offers a range of insurance models for basic insurance, all of which offer the same benefits. The only difference between the alternative models is who you can contact when you need medical advice. Depending on the model you choose, you can benefit from a range of discounts on your premium compared to the standard Basic insurance model:
Your deductible is the share you pay towards treatment costs. It always applies for a calendar year. If you increase your deductible for basic insurance, you can save up to CHF 1,540 a year. For example, with a deductible of CHF 1,000 you pay the first CHF 1,000 for medical treatment yourself.
Important: Only increase your deductible if you rarely go to the doctor. Bear in mind that you have to cover the costs of any treatment up to the amount of your deductible plus a copayment of CHF 700.
Good to know: You can change the deductible yourself in the Sanitas Portal.
Basic insurance
Families receive a discount on their children’s basic insurance premiums:
Supplementary insurance plans
With the Classic, Family and Hospital Standard Liberty supplementary insurance plans:
Family supplementary insurance
Every child who has basic insurance plus Family supplementary insurance with Sanitas receives:
If you work at least eight hours a week for the same company, you are insured for occupational and non-occupational accidents through your employer and can exclude accident cover from your basic insurance.
When you change doctors or are referred to a specialist, you may have to undergo duplicate or unnecessary examinations, such as X-rays of the same joint taken in quick succession by different doctors. It’s good to know that these images – be they X-rays, MRIs or CT scans – and in fact the results of all examinations (e.g. lab values), belong to you. Ask for them and take them with you to your next doctor’s appointment. The savings will quickly add up.
If you’re unsure whether you actually need to see a doctor, contact the Medgate telemedicine team for an initial assessment: call 0844 124 365 or use the Sanitas Medgate app.
And before you undergo an examination or treatment, use the Cover Check in the Sanitas Portal to find out quickly and easily whether the costs are covered under your Sanitas insurance plans. This will save you money.
And don’t forget to take a closer look at your medical bills. Did you really receive all the benefits listed there? Bills are often difficult to understand, and this is where our invoice translator comes in handy.
In the long term, working together to save health costs will pay dividends, because it helps keep premium increases to a minimum.
When you buy generics you usually have a
What is a generic?
As generics don't have to be developed completely from scratch, which means the development costs are low, these products are available more cheaply than original drugs. A generic product contains the same active ingredients in the same dosage as the original drug and is therefore – with a few medically justified exceptions – a cost-effective, equivalent alternative. You can find an article on this in our Sanitas online magazine.
Find out whether there’s a lower-cost generic available for your drug:
Good to know: The generic drug finder is also available in the Sanitas Portal. You can download the app free of charge:
Thanks to our partnership with the Zur Rose and MediService online pharmacies, you can take advantage of numerous benefits. You don’t have to worry about the billing, because the pharmacies settle invoices directly with Sanitas.
Your benefits:
Sanitas Active is a fun way to help you get more exercise. Laufen, Schwimmen und Radfahren sowie der Besuch von Sportangeboten wie Fitness oder Yoga werden mit virtuellen Münzen belohnt. The coins you collect can be exchanged for vouchers with our partners.
If you do military service, civilian service or civil defence for more than 60 consecutive days, you can suspend your basic insurance. This means your insurance is paused for a specified period and you don’t pay a premium. For the duration of your military or civil service, you are insured for accident and illness and any associated economic consequences under military insurance.
You have to do military service?
You can use this template to submit your marching orders or notification of the start of civil service/civil defence.
Important: Send us your application to suspend your insurance at least eight weeks before starting your service.
Suspend supplementary insurance
In certain cases, you can also suspend your supplementary insurance and save 70% on your premium - for example if you move your place of residence abroad, stay abroad for longer than three months or do military training for more than 60 days.
Important: Once you’ve suspended your insurance, you're no longer able to claim benefits.
Advice hotline
0844 150 150 – Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm
Premiums are usually paid monthly. However, you can also pay your premiums for a year or six months in advance. For paying a year in advance you receive a discount of 1% and for six months 0.5%.