SubscriptionHealth insurance
How to find the cheapest box
Online platforms allow you to quickly compare premiums. But among the many offerings, there are significant differences in terms of transparency.
Premiums are rising sharply. Policyholders have until the end of November to switch to a cheaper health insurance company.
KEYSTONE
- Health insurance funds will soon inform their policyholders in writing about premium increases.
- Policyholders can switch providers and compare premiums until the end of November.
- Comparis.ch, the market leader, practically only shows offers from contractual partners in the standard view of its comparison.
- Priminfo.ch and consumer protection offer a comprehensive comparison without commercial interests.
In the coming days, the health insurers will notify their policyholders in writing of the extent of the increase in their premium next year. He then stays until the end of November to compare them with offers from other funds and possibly switch funds.
In basic insurance, the premium amount is the most important criterion for many policyholders. In fact, medical benefits are set by law, which is why the offers from health insurance companies do not differ on this point. The easiest way to find the most advantageous premium is to consult comparison portals on the Internet. As a general rule, these portals all work with official data from the Federal Office of Public Health. However, as a comparison shows, there are sometimes significant differences in the implementation and processing of personal data.
Since the scope of benefits is defined by law, the only questions insured need to ask themselves when comparing which medical model is right for them and what the excess amount should be.
The deductible relates to the costs that the insured pays himself. Adults have the choice of several deductibles from 300 to 2500 francs. The higher the deductible, the lower the premium. In principle, policyholders should choose either the highest or the lowest deductible: anything in between makes no sense. Choosing the lowest excess may pay off if the processing fee is higher the following year. When it is worth it depends on the individual premium. According to a calculation by the comparison portal Moneyland.ch, the lowest franchise is profitable based on annual costs of around 1,900 francs. Comparis.ch presents the figure as 2000 francs. Several comparison platforms, such as Moneyland.ch, Swupp.ch or Konsumentenschutz, offer a tool to precisely determine the optimal deductible.
The model options are free choice of doctor, family doctor, group practice or Telmed. The premium is higher with free choice of doctor. In other models, you must always contact a family doctor, a group practice or a specialist center before you can consult a specialist.
A balance between different interests
Most providers want to make money with their health insurance comparisons on the internet. This is sometimes at odds with the interests of consumers, who want to be informed as completely and transparently as possible.
According to the sector agreement, which came into force at the beginning of September, there are brokerage fees of up to 70 francs per concluded contract. Within mediation via the comparison platform, Comparis.ch is clearly the market leader. Last year, according to its own information, the company achieved a turnover of 10.2 million francs with basic insurance. At that time, Comparis.ch still received around 50 francs per offer.
In the standard view, Comparis.ch does not show all offers.
Urs Jaudas
Comparis.ch’s business model provides, in addition to brokerage fees, advertising revenue. A comparison test shows that in the standard view of Comparis.ch, the offer of a more expensive health insurance company appears almost in first place. This is highlighted in color and carries the small message “announcement”. Health insurance companies can therefore buy themselves a more attractive place on the ranking list.
In addition, the cheapest offer is definitely mentioned at the very top of the mentioned standard display, in a smaller format. However, other health insurance companies that have not entered into a contract with Comparis.ch do not appear on this list. To see all the offers, switch to “extended view”. If you miss this, you may not find the best deal.
Also at Bonus.ch there is a standard view and a global view. In addition, a ranking of the “best partners” is shown there first, and only below that is a general ranking. This practice illustrates the wide gap between commercial providers who want to be attractive to both policyholders and health insurers.
But there are also commercial online comparators which always present all the offers. This is especially the case for Moneyland.ch. Here it is possible to order an offer with a single click from the contractual partners.
The advantages of suppliers without commercial interests
There are also non-commercial providers who do not earn finder’s fees with the basic insurance comparison. The most well-known is Priminfo.ch: it is the official premium calculator of the Federal Office of Public Health. This has improved significantly in recent years. In the meantime, in addition to the comprehensive comparison, there is a lot of useful additional information and standard letters that make changing boxes easier.
The comparison of the Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz, the German-speaking consumer foundation, also offers a “fairness check”. The fund analyzes the health insurance companies’ general insurance regulations and shows the insured what they risk if, for example, they violate the regulations from a favorable model of family doctor or Telmed.
Comparis.ch, for its part, provides information on the quality of health insurance companies’ service and the availability of family doctors in certain cantons.
An offer is not necessary
The decisive difference from commercial offers: the request for a quote is not necessary at all in the basic insurance. After comparison, policyholders can sign up for the cheapest health insurance company instead of having to deal with the offer documents again. For its part, Comparis.ch emphasizes that personal data must not be entered again after the offer request.
What happens to personal data?
Finally, the question of data protection arises. While non-commercial comparison sites only enter rudimentary data, commercial providers add more detailed information such as name or address when submitting an offer. Comparis.ch states that no data is transferred to third parties. But here it is: The group’s data protection declaration states that personal data may be used for marketing purposes. According to Comparis.ch, it can be, for example, a newsletter. In any case, it is advisable to inform yourself about the use of personal data when using commercial premium calculators.
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