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Getting insured when you arrive on a permit

Enrolment is compulsory within three months of taking up residence, retroactive to the first day. What the permit changes is your room for manoeuvre — not the obligation.

What the permit really changes

With a B, C or L permit the duty is the same as for a Swiss citizen: three months to choose an insurer, retroactivity to the day of arrival, and no insurer may refuse you basic cover. Insurance from your home country does not exempt you, except under an exemption formally granted by the canton.

The G permit, for cross-border workers, opens a right of option instead: insure in Switzerland or in your country of residence. That choice is in principle one-off and final, and its consequences last decades — it is the one decision on this page not to take alone.

The traps of the first winter

Past the three-month deadline, the canton assigns you automatically, often to an expensive insurer, and the back premiums fall due at once. Choosing late therefore saves nothing: it merely stacks several premiums onto one bill.

The minimum deductible is the prudent choice in year one: you do not yet know your costs in a system you are discovering, and the rhythm of consultations in Switzerland is not the same as everywhere.

What drives the price

  • The permit type: B, C, L or G.
  • The country of residence, for cross-border workers.
  • The household composition, since each member is insured individually.
  • The canton of residence, which sets its own subsidies.

We show no tariffs on this page. Unlike LAMal premiums, no public register publishes prices for this branch: they depend on your profile and are calculated case by case. Quoting a figure here would be an invention.

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