Taking out a contract, policy details & cancellation

Taking out a contract & confirmation

You take out insurance with us by signing an application and either sending it to us or submitting it digitally. Don’t forget the period of notice for your current health insurance.

New to Switzerland? We need your confirmation of place of residence.

You’ll then receive confirmation from us. The confirmation will include your client number, which you can use for myCSS and when filling out forms.

Your policy

We’ll send you the policy for your basic insurance as soon as your previous insurer has confirmed cancellation. You’ll receive the policy for supplementary insurance once we have reached a decision regarding your admission. This will depend on the health information you provide.

Insurance card

You’ll receive your insurance card about one month after your policy – both as a plastic card and in digital format on myCSS. You can voluntarily store health information and emergency details on the card:

• Blood type and transfusions
• Vaccinations
• Transplant info
• Allergies and medication
• Illnesses and consequences of accidents
• Emergency contact addresses
• Reference to advance healthcare directives
  

Have you lost your insurance card? Order a new card, free of charge.

Service providers, incl. pharmacies and doctors, can read and save your data on the chip. The list of service providers shows you who is authorised to do this. Please note that CSS does not have access to this data.

Granting a power of attorney

Does another person or authority help you with aspects of your health insurance? Or maybe you take care of insurance matters for someone close to you?

• Social welfare office, child and adult protection authority, deputy or authorised representative who supports you.
• Persons with whom you live together in a domestic partnership or marriage or as a family.
• Adult children for whom you take care of everything to do with insurance.
• Elderly persons you assist.
  

Then it makes sense to file a power of attorney with CSS.

Granting a power of attorney couldn’t be easier:

Fill out the power of attorney form, print it, sign it and send it by post to CSS.

Good to know: The power of attorney is not valid for myCSS.

Cancellation

Cancelling basic insurance

Basic insurance is mandatory in Switzerland. To make sure there is no gap in your cover, your current health insurer needs confirmation from us. The changeover is complete as soon as they receive your cancellation letter by the given deadline.

Your contract generally runs for a calendar year. Would you like to cancel your basic insurance? Send your notice of cancellation to your current insurer by the last working day in November.

An exception is made for insured persons with a deductible of CHF 300 (adults) or CHF 0 (children) and whose basic insurance does not take the form of an alternative model such as Telmed, HMO etc. They can cancel their insurance as of 30 June, with a notice period of 3 months – i.e. by the last working day in March.

Cancelling supplementary insurance

We'll look into admitting you and talk to your doctor, if need be. Please wait until you receive confirmation of admission from CSS. Only then should you cancel your insurance. If your cancellation notice reaches your previous health insurer by the given deadline, the changeover will go ahead.

If no change to premiums: the terms and conditions of your policy apply. In most cases, you can cancel at the end of a calendar year by giving three months' notice, i.e. by 30 September. Please also take note of the minimum contract term of your policy.

If premiums go up: the terms and conditions of your policy also apply here. In most cases, you can cancel the contract within one month.

What to do when someone dies

When someone dies, their health insurer must be informed. You can report the death in writing or by phone on 0844 277 277. This notification is sufficient to end the contract.

• Is a death certificate required?
  You can go ahead and notify us of the death without providing official confirmation and then send us the death certificate or death notice later.
  
• Who can report a death?
  A relative or the social welfare office can notify us of a death.
  
• Will premiums be refunded?
  The insurance ends on the date of death. Any overpaid premiums will be refunded for the exact number of unused days.
  
• Was the deceased paying the premiums of other family members?
  We’ll change this automatically from the month following the date of death. The family members will then become premium payers in their own right.