General information
Every Swiss citizen who has a permission to stay in Switzerland is obliged to conclude a compulsory basic health insurance agreement with an insurance company. This also applies to persons newly-arrived to Switzerland, because the mandatory condition is to conclude a compulsory health insurance agreement as soon as possible. In Switzerland health insurance companies are private enterprises called insurance offices.
In case of illness or accident, the compulsory basic insurance includes services established by the law, but the insured person always incurs a certain part of expenses.
The scope of assistance, as well as certain types of treatment is not chosen at will, and thus, the scope of services is not covered by the compulsory basic health insurance.
For this reason, additional types of insurance are proposed, for example: outpatient treatment abroad, improved supplementary health insurance, dental insurance and insurance regarding therapeutic alternatives.
