The Swiss health insurance ombudsman
A free, independent service for disputes with your insurer. Before you contact it, there is one thing to know — it can cost you your right of appeal.
Contacting the ombudsman interrupts no deadline
The office says so itself: approaching it “does not interrupt any limitation, forfeiture, judicial or administrative deadlines”. You remain responsible for meeting them. If your insurer has issued a formal decision, file your objection within the stated period — 30 days, in writing, with your insurer — even while mediation is under way.
Who they are
An independent body that advises insured people in Switzerland and seeks a solution with the insurer. It does not rule: it negotiates.
- Adresse
- Office de médiation de l’assurance-maladie, Case postale 519, 6002 Lucerne
- Téléphone
- +41 41 226 10 11 — lundi à vendredi, 9 h – 11 h 30
- Coût
- gratuit
What it handles
- Refusals to cover treatment.
- Disputed statements of account.
- Difficulties when switching insurer.
What it cannot handle
- Cases where the insurer has already issued a formal decision with instructions on legal remedies.
- Disputes already before a court.
- Claims with a disputed value below CHF 100.
- Insured people represented by a lawyer or professional agent — brief oral advice remains available.
The order that protects your rights
Contact the ombudsman while your insurer has not yet issued a formal decision: that is when mediation can still achieve something. Once the decision is out, your objection period is running — deal with that first, mediation will not pause it.
Sources
- Office de médiation de l’assurance-maladie
- Office de médiation — demander conseil
- OFSP — droits des patients et conseils
Checked on 25 August 2026 on the ombudsman’s website and that of the Federal Office of Public Health. Quoted passages are the ombudsman’s own wording. This page describes a procedure; it does not replace legal advice.