The glossary
40 words you meet in a contract, an invoice or a comparison. Each is defined in one sentence, then explained by what it concretely changes.
Health insurance
- Accident coverThe option covering accidents within health insurance — suspendable if your employer already insures you.
- Age classThe three LAMal categories: child up to 18, young adult from 19 to 25, adult from 26.
- Annual cost-sharing capThe maximum the co-payment can cost you in a year: CHF 700 for an adult, CHF 350 for a child.
- Benefits catalogueThe federal list of care reimbursed by basic insurance, identical at all 34 insurers.
- Co-paymentThe 10 % of costs you keep paying once the deductible is used up, capped at an annual maximum.
- DeductibleThe amount of medical costs you pay in full each year before your insurer starts reimbursing anything.
- Family doctor modelYou designate a first-contact doctor whom you consult before any other practitioner.
- FOPH (Federal Office of Public Health)The federal authority that approves every premium, supervises insurers and publishes the official data.
- Generic medicineA copy of a medicine whose patent has expired, with identical active substance and a lower price.
- HMO modelYou commit to first visiting a contracted group practice, usually in a city.
- Hospital, general wardWhat basic insurance covers in hospital: the general ward of a facility in your canton.
- LAMal (basic insurance)The federal law making health insurance compulsory and setting a benefits catalogue identical at every insurer.
- MaternityPregnancy and childbirth benefits, reimbursed with no deductible and no co-payment.
- Notice periodYour letter must have reached the insurer by 30 November for a change on 1 January.
- Obligation to acceptNo insurer may refuse you basic cover, whatever your age or state of health.
- PremiumThe monthly amount you pay your insurer, regardless of your state of health.
- Premium regionThe official zoning by which a premium is set per area, never per municipality.
- Premium subsidyThe cantonal support covering all or part of your premium according to income and assets.
- ReservesThe capital an insurer must hold to guarantee payment of future benefits.
- Standard modelThe unrestricted model: you see the doctor or specialist of your choice, with no gatekeeper.
- Supplementary insurance (VVG)Everything beyond the basic catalogue: private room, complementary medicine, glasses, dental, abroad.
- Telmed modelYou call a medical advice centre before any consultation, except in an emergency.
Pensions and retirement
- AHV (first pillar)The state pension, compulsory for all, meant to cover basic needs in retirement.
- BVG (second pillar)Occupational pension provision, funded by you and your employer, topping up the AHV.
- BVG buy-inA voluntary payment into your pension fund to close a gap, deductible from income.
- Conversion rateThe percentage that turns your second-pillar capital into a lifelong annual pension.
- Disability insurance (IV)The social insurance paying a pension when earning capacity is durably reduced.
- Pillar 3aTied retirement savings: deductible from taxable income, locked until retirement with exceptions.
- Pillar 3bFree savings: no ceiling, no lock-in, but no federal tax deduction.
- Vested benefitsYour second-pillar assets when they leave a pension fund without immediately joining another.
Other insurance
- Accident insurance (UVG)The compulsory employer-paid insurance covering occupational accidents and, from 8 hours a week, non-occupational ones.
- AffordabilityThe bank’s test: your theoretical housing costs must not exceed a third of gross income.
- Daily allowance insuranceThe insurance that replaces income during an inability to work due to illness.
- Household contents insuranceInsurance of your movable property against fire, water, theft and glass breakage.
- Legal expenses insuranceThe insurance paying lawyer, expert and court costs in a covered dispute.
- Mortgage amortisationThe duty to bring the debt down to two thirds of the property value within fifteen years.
- No-claims discount (bonus-malus)The discount accumulated on your car premium over claim-free years — and its rise after a claim.
- Own fundsThe 20 % of the price you must contribute, of which at least 10 % from outside the second pillar.
- Partial and full cascoOptional cover for your own vehicle, beyond compulsory third-party liability.
- Private liability insuranceThe insurance that pays damage you cause to others — and contests unfounded claims.