What the figures show
11 studies, all computed from the official premiums and recomputed with each vintage. None states a figure the database does not produce.
The 25 insurers that have disappeared since 2015
In 2015, 59 insurers offered basic cover in Switzerland. Today there are 34. The market consolidated without anyone telling the story, because the FOPH keeps only the current year’s register online.
Where premiums have risen most since 2015
Between 2015 and 2026, the lowest premium rose by 93.7 % in canton Ticino and by 25.1 % in canton Zug. A factor of 3.7 between the two extremes, for an insurance whose law is the same everywhere.
What not comparing costs
Across Switzerland’s 42 premium regions, the median gap between the cheapest insurer and the market average is CHF 582.88 a year. Against the dearest insurer in the same region it reaches CHF 1'566.30.
When the 2 500-franc deductible starts costing more
The maximum deductible saves a median of CHF 1'539.60 of premium a year. In exchange it makes you cover 2 200 francs more before the insurance steps in. The tipping point is CHF 1'839.60 of costs in the year.
The same law, four times cheaper
The FOPH publishes each year the Swiss basic premiums for people living outside Switzerland. Someone in Poland pays CHF 83.70 a month where the lowest Swiss premium is CHF 335.10: CHF 3'016.80 apart per year, for cover defined by the same federal law.
The 270 postcodes where your postcode is not enough
The postal service and the Federal Office of Public Health do not divide Switzerland the same way. The result: 270 postcodes out of 3178 — 8.5 % — fall into several premium regions. For those, knowing your postcode is not enough to know your premium.
What "Callmed" actually means
Basic insurance is not sold under the name "basic insurance". It is sold under a product name, and the FOPH lists 122 of them across 33 insurers. Those names are on your policy; their price and their real reach are published nowhere.
Your district neighbours do not pay your premium
The district sits between the canton and the municipality. It plays no part in how premiums are set — which is exactly what makes it interesting: 26 of Switzerland's 135 districts cross a tariff border without noticing.
Twelve years of increases, insurer by insurer
Everyone raised. But not at the same pace: between Vivao Sympany and Steffisburg there are 57.2 points of difference over twelve years. It is the question you cannot put to your own insurer, and the archives answer it.
Changing insurer without changing owner
7 of Switzerland's 34 health insurers belong to 2 groups. The brands are distinct, the logos too, and whoever cancels with one to join another believes they have changed insurer. The striking part is elsewhere: two brands of the same group do not ask the same price.
The premium follows the cost, not the other way round
Care reimbursed by basic insurance costs CHF 4'834 per insured person per year in Switzerland — from CHF 3'567 to CHF 5'886 depending on the canton. Set against each canton’s cheapest premium, that cost explains 88.5 % of the gap.
Source: Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), official premiums and archives.