New in Switzerland: health insurance within three months

Three months from arrival: what applies to whom?

In Switzerland, compulsory basic health insurance is run by approved health insurers, not by the state and not by your employer. You take it out yourself, with an insurer of your choice. There is no family insurance: each family member is insured individually. This obligation is called the requirement to take out insurance. It applies to everyone resident in Switzerland, regardless of nationality, age and health.

The law gives you time: you must sign up within 3 months. However, this three-month deadline does not start on the same day for everyone.

What counts is your residence (Wohnsitz), meaning the place where you live with the intention of staying permanently. If you come with a residence or short-term permit of at least 3 months, you must take out insurance under Art. 1 para. 2 let. a and f of the Health Insurance Ordinance (KVV) even without such a residence. Separate rules apply to short stays; they are explained in the article Short-term residents.

The deadline only concerns basic health insurance. Supplementary insurance is voluntary, and there is neither an obligation nor a deadline for it.

Step by step: the first three months

1. Register with the municipality. For many people, registering with the residents’ registration office (Einwohnerkontrolle / contrôle des habitants) is when the deadline starts. Note the date and add 3 months.
2. Check whether an exception applies. If you continue to work in an EU state, have been posted from abroad or are studying with equivalent foreign insurance, you may not need a Swiss insurer. The cases are explained in the article Exemption from compulsory health insurance. You apply within the same 3 months.
3. Compare premiums. All insurers provide the same statutory benefits in basic health insurance. The differences are in premium, model and service. The premium calculator shows the premiums for your municipality.
4. Choose deductible and model. The deductible is the amount you pay yourself first each year. With the model, you decide whether you always contact a GP practice, an HMO centre or a telephone advice line first. The explanation follows below.
5. Apply to join. You sign up directly with the insurer you have chosen, usually online. State the start date you want: if you join on time, the day you arrived or registered with the municipality.
6. Keep your proof of insurance ready. The cantons check that everyone is insured (Art. 6 of the Federal Health Insurance Act, KVG). If your municipality asks for proof, your insurer issues it.
7. Check accident cover. If you work at least 8 hours a week for one employer, you are also insured against accidents in your free time through that employer (Art. 13 para. 1 UVV). You can then suspend the accident cover of your health insurance.
8. Check premium subsidies. If your income is low, the canton reduces your premium. This also applies if you hold a permit of 3 months or more (Art. 106 KVV).

The legal rules in detail

Deadline and retroactive cover. Under Art. 3 para. 1 KVG, every person resident in Switzerland must take out insurance within 3 months of taking up residence. If you join on time, the insurance starts when you took up residence (Art. 5 para. 1 KVG), and for foreign nationals with a permit when they registered with the municipality (Art. 7 para. 1 KVV). Doctor’s and hospital bills from your first weeks are therefore covered. In return, you owe the premiums from that day. If you arrive in the middle of a month, the insurer calculates the premium to the day (FOPH).

Free choice, no health questions. You choose freely among all approved insurers (Art. 4 KVG). Every insurer must accept you in the area where it operates (Art. 5 let. i KVAG), without a health questionnaire, without reservations and without a waiting period. Health questions are only allowed for supplementary insurance.

Joining late. If you sign up after the 3 months have passed, the insurance only starts when you join (Art. 5 para. 2 KVG, Art. 7 para. 1 KVV). You pay bills from the period before that yourself. If the delay is inexcusable, a premium surcharge of 30 to 50 % is added, for twice as long as the delay, up to a maximum of 5 years (Art. 8 para. 1 KVV). What applies then is explained in the article Registered too late.

Checks by the canton. The cantons make sure that everyone is insured. If you do not take out insurance in time, the cantonal authority assigns you to an insurer (Art. 6 KVG). You then no longer choose the insurer yourself.

What basic health insurance costs

The premium depends on your municipality (premium region), your age, the deductible, the model and the insurer. For the same statutory benefits, the difference between insurers is often several hundred francs a year. Premiums 2026, municipality of Lausanne (region 1), adults born in 1991; source FOPH:

In Lausanne, the lowest offer with accident cover is an HMO model. Without accident cover, the median with a CHF 2,500 deductible is CHF 34.40 lower than with it. The FOPH publishes next year’s premiums at the end of September; until then, we use the 2026 premiums.

Deductible: how much you pay yourself first

The standard deductible (Franchise) is CHF 300 per calendar year (Art. 103 para. 1 KVV). You can choose a higher one: CHF 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 or 2,500 (Art. 93 para. 1 KVV). Above the deductible, you pay a 10 % retention fee (Art. 64 para. 2 KVG), up to CHF 700 a year (Art. 103 para. 2 KVV). The higher the deductible, the lower the premium. The deductible is an amount per calendar year; the law does not provide for a reduction for a part year.

Model: whom you contact first

In the standard model, you go directly to the doctor of your choice. In the alternative models, you agree to contact a specific point first: a GP practice, an HMO centre or a telephone advice line. In return, the insurer may lower the premium (Art. 62 para. 1 KVG). Which model suits your everyday life is clarified by the model finder.

Sample calculation: moving in June

Example with fictitious people. Amélie, 35, moves from France to Lausanne with a B residence permit. She registers with the municipality on 01.06.2026. Her deadline runs until 01.09.2026. On 20.08.2026, she takes out basic health insurance with a CHF 2,500 deductible and accident cover, at the median premium of CHF 500.20 per month.

Is the higher deductible worth it? At the median, the CHF 300 deductible in Lausanne costs CHF 128.30 more per month, so CHF 1,539.60 a year. With a CHF 2,500 deductible, Amélie pays medical costs up to CHF 2,500 herself; with a CHF 300 deductible, only CHF 300 plus 10 % of the rest. With costs of X francs, the difference is 0.9 × (X − 300). It reaches the premium difference at costs of CHF 2,010.67 a year. If her costs are higher, the CHF 300 deductible works out cheaper in this example. This is a calculation, not a recommendation: you can run your own figures in the deductible calculator.

Special cases

Family. Partners and children each need their own policy and each have their own deadline from the day they arrive. Children and young adults pay lower premiums (Art. 61 para. 3 KVG). How to insure family members who join you is explained in the article Family reunification.

Family members in the EU. If you work in Switzerland as an EU or EFTA national, according to the FOPH your family members who do not work and live in an EU state, Iceland or Norway must also take out insurance in Switzerland. This does not apply to family members in the United Kingdom.

Studies. Students from the EU or EFTA who do not work in Switzerland usually stay in their home system. The rules are set out in the article International students.

Returning from abroad. Swiss citizens returning from abroad are subject to the same 3-month deadline from the day they take up residence.

Supplementary insurance. For a semi-private hospital ward, dental treatment or benefits abroad, there is voluntary supplementary insurance. Here the insurer may ask health questions and refuse you. The general terms and conditions (AVB) and the information from the insurer are decisive. There is no deadline pressure for choosing supplementary insurance; there is for basic health insurance.

Common mistakes

• Counting the deadline from the wrong day. With a permit, what counts is your registration with the municipality, not your entry into Switzerland and not your first day at work.
• Relying on your insurance from home. It only replaces basic health insurance if an exception applies or the canton exempts you.
• Trying to save premiums by delaying. If you join on time, you pay retroactively anyway. If you join late, you have no cover and face a surcharge.
• Taking the first insurer you find. The benefits are the same, the premiums are not. The health insurer profiles show key figures for all insurers.
• Paying for accident cover twice. If you are fully insured against accidents through your employer, you can suspend it (Art. 8 para. 1 KVG).

How the system works as a whole is explained in the article The Swiss health insurance system. If you leave Switzerland later, you can find the process under Moving abroad. If your income is low, it is worth looking at the premium subsidy. All topics around moving to Switzerland are collected in the theme New in Switzerland.