Priminfo

What is Priminfo?

Priminfo is the website of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) on basic health insurance premiums. It is available at priminfo.admin.ch in German, French and Italian, with texts in easy-to-read language and videos in sign language. At its core is a premium calculator that shows the premiums of all authorised health insurers side by side for one person or a household.

The name combines the German words for “premium” (Prämie) and “information”. Many people know Priminfo as the place where the new premiums appear at the end of September each year. In its press release on the 2026 premiums, the FOPH lists the following services:

• a premium calculator that lists all premiums and discounts of every health insurer and lets you sort them by amount,
• a premium advice section with information, tips on saving money and sample letters,
• premium overviews,
• answers to frequently asked questions and the FOPH premium hotline,
• texts in easy-to-read language and videos in sign language.

Priminfo also has a “Facts & figures” section with information on switching health insurer, cost groups, insurers’ key figures, premium approval, solvency, the reduction of reserves and the average premium. The archive contains premium overviews and premium regions from previous years.

What matters is what Priminfo is not: it does not sell insurance, it is not an advice service for your individual case, and it does not compare supplementary insurance. For questions about your policy, the FOPH refers you to your health insurer, which is obliged to provide advice and information free of charge.

How it works

Priminfo’s premium calculator asks for a few details:

1. Place of residence: postcode or municipality. This determines the premium region.
2. Persons: year of birth of each person, so that the calculator can determine the age group (children, young adults, adults).
3. Deductible (Franchise) per person.
4. Accident cover: with or without accident cover, depending on whether the person is insured under the Accident Insurance Act (UVG).
5. Models: standard, GP, HMO and other models, individually or combined.

The result is a list of all matching offers with the monthly premium, which you can sort by amount. Sorting the list by premium immediately shows how far apart the offers in your own municipality are.

Behind the calculator is a procedure laid down by law. Health insurers set their premiums for the following year by the end of July and submit them to the FOPH together with cost estimates. The FOPH checks whether the premiums cover the costs, are not excessively high and ensure solvency, and approves them at the end of September. Before approval, the premiums may neither be published nor applied. The FOPH notifies all insurers of its decision at the same time. The premiums then appear on Priminfo, and the insurers inform their insured persons by the end of October. If you want to switch, you have until the end of November.

The FOPH publishes the same data as open data on opendata.swiss. This is also the basis used by private comparison services, including our premium calculator. The premiums there are identical; the differences lie in the presentation, additional information and whether and how a service earns money from brokering insurance.

Legal basis

Priminfo itself is not mentioned by name in any legal provision. The service is based on the FOPH’s supervision of social health insurance and on the requirement for premiums to be approved:

• Art. 16 of the Federal Act on the Supervision of Social Health Insurance (KVAG): basic health insurance premium tariffs require the approval of the supervisory authority; before approval they may neither be published nor applied (para. 1). The authority checks whether the premiums safeguard solvency and the interests of insured persons (para. 2), and refuses approval if premiums do not cover the costs, are excessively high in relation to the costs or lead to excessive reserves (para. 4). If a tariff is approved for less than one year, the health insurer must announce the duration (para. 7).
• Art. 7 para. 2 of the Federal Health Insurance Act (KVG): the health insurer must notify every insured person of the new premiums approved by the FOPH at least two months in advance and point out the right to switch. The insured person can then switch with one month’s notice to the end of the month preceding the date on which the new premium takes effect.
• Art. 16 para. 3 KVAG: premiums cover the costs, which differ from canton to canton; what counts is the place of residence. That is why the calculator asks for your place of residence first.

Which municipality belongs to which premium region is set out in an ordinance of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA). Priminfo provides the assignment for each year as a table.

Example: what Priminfo shows in Zurich

Jonas is 34 (born in 1992), lives in the city of Zurich (premium region 1) and has accident cover. He looks at the 2026 premiums for two deductibles. The figures come from the same FOPH data that Priminfo uses (health insurance premiums 2026, opendata.swiss), across all models.

For comparison: according to the FOPH, the average premium across all insured persons in Switzerland is CHF 393.30 per month in 2026, and CHF 465.30 for adults. It is lower than many individual premiums in Zurich because it includes children, young adults, high deductibles, insurance models and persons without accident cover. More on this in the entry average premium.

What this means for you

1. Compare every year after the end of September. Only then are the approved premiums known. According to the FOPH, you should be sceptical of quotes containing premiums that the FOPH has not yet approved.
2. Compare like with like. Use the deductible, model and accident cover from your policy so that the premium comparison is fair. Then check whether a different deductible or model suits you.
3. Watch the deadline. Your notice of cancellation for basic health insurance must reach your insurer by 30 November. All dates are under deadlines; you will find a sample letter under cancellation letter.
4. Look beyond the premium. Priminfo shows prices. How a health insurer is positioned, for example in terms of reserves, administrative costs or models, is shown in our health insurer profiles.
5. Use the calculator that suits you best. The premiums are the same everywhere if the service uses the FOPH data. Our premium calculator shows the same figures without requiring your contact details and with the source stated.

We describe how we take over and check the FOPH data under How we calculate.

Common mistakes

• Using Priminfo to compare supplementary insurance. Priminfo only shows basic health insurance. You have to compare supplementary insurance separately.
• Comparing before the end of September. Before then you only see the current year’s premiums. If you switch on the basis of old premiums, you are comparing the wrong thing.
• Looking only at the cheapest offer. The cheapest offer is often a model with a restricted choice of doctors. Check whether its rules fit your everyday life.
• Confusing the average premium with your own. The average premium is an average across all insured persons and says little about your personal premium.
• Believing Priminfo switches your health insurer for you. Priminfo only calculates. You send the notice of cancellation and the application yourself.