You’ve received a reminder from us because a bill hasn’t been paid. Let us show you what that means, what deadlines apply and how to avoid reminder fees. Ensuring your insurance cover remains in place.
As the name suggests, a reminder is a friendly message telling you that a bill hasn’t yet been paid. You’ll be sent a reminder if we don’t receive payment by the due date.
The consequences of not paying a bill vary depending on what type of insurance you have. Different rules apply to mandatory basic insurance and to voluntary supplementary insurance.
If the bill isn’t paid, we are obliged to take legal action to collect the outstanding amount (debt collection proceedings). You cannot switch to another general health insurance company until all the outstanding amounts have been paid.
If the bill isn’t paid, we will not assume any treatment costs under supplementary insurance. We can decide to terminate your supplementary insurance, and you may be subject to debt collection proceedings. Benefits will not be paid retroactively, even after the bill has been paid.
| Suspension of benefits | Your premium statement hasn’t been paid. You will not receive any benefits under supplementary insurance. Your insurance card will be frozen. |
|---|---|
| Forced reduction | Several premium statements haven’t been paid. We choose to terminate your contract for supplementary insurance. |
| Debt collection | Debt collection proceedings will be instigated if bills remain outstanding after repeated requests for payment. The proceedings are conducted by the debt collection office. |
| Certificate of loss | If debt collection proves unsuccessful, the certificate of loss officially confirms the outstanding debt. |
| Reminder process on hold & instalment plan | Under certain circumstances, the reminder process may be put on hold for 30 days or an instalment plan (allowing for partial payments) may be arranged. |
myCSS provides transparency, letting you see at any time whether bills and payments are outstanding – easily, securely, 24/7.
Check your proof of payment: Did you transfer the money to the right CSS account number? Did you make the payment on time? It’s possible that your payment was only received by us shortly after we sent the reminder. In which case, you can ignore the reminder.
Not for the first reminder. Only when we send out a payment demand (second reminder) are you charged a fee of CHF 25.
As a rule, you have 14 days from the time we send you the reminder.
Yes – under certain circumstances. Get in touch with us as soon as you can. Together we can look for a solution, such as payment in instalments.
No. When you receive a payment demand, you are given an extra 30 days in which to pay. Debt collections proceedings cannot be started before the end of that period.
Yes. We can arrange to put the reminder process on hold or agree an instalment plan, if your situation allows us to do that. Get in touch with us as soon as possible so we can look for a solution together.
