Swiss households will pay more for compulsory health insurance next year. Premiums are set to rise by an average of 4.4% in 2026, adding roughly 200 francs to annual bills. For children the increase is 4.9%; for young adults, 4.2%; and for everyone else, 4.1%.
The burden varies widely by canton. Ticino will see the sharpest rise, 7.1%. Valais (5.9%), Jura (5.3%) and Vaud (4.9%) are also above average. Geneva (3%) and Fribourg (3.4%) are at the low end. Zug is the lone outlier: its residents will enjoy a 14.7% cut.
Since the federal health-insurance law came into force in 1996, premiums have ballooned. In 1997 the monthly average was 138 francs; in 2026 it will be 393—an increase of 184%. After a lull between 2019 and 2022, next year marks the fourth consecutive rise.
Officials blame familiar factors: an ageing population, pricier treatments, higher demand for medical services and rising tariffs. A shift from inpatient to outpatient care, where costs fall entirely on insurers and therefore policyholders, has also inflated bills. From 2028 a uniform financing model should soften that imbalance. Much of the funding for Swiss healthcare comes from the tax pot. The shift from inpatient to outpatient care has effectively shifted some of the burden from taxpayers to payers of premiums.
Consumers have few options to fight back. One is to choose alternative insurance models, such as family-doctor schemes, managed-care networks or telemedicine. These can trim monthly costs by up to 100 francs, but come with restrictions. First contact may have to be through a smartphone app; doctors may have to be drawn from a narrow network. Non-compliance carries penalties: insurers may transfer policyholders back to the pricier standard plan or even refuse coverage for some services.
Such caveats leave many wary. But with premiums consuming an ever larger share of household budgets, Swiss patients may have little choice but to trade flexibility for lower bills.
To see what compulsory Swiss health insurance could cost next year go to the government website – all Swiss health insurance companies must submit their pricing information for the coming year to the government for inclusion in this database.
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