I guess the procedure you had is considered non essential, or some kind of alternative treatment, if the insurance company says that to them it is out of scope.

If you dont pay they will send their bill to the "office des poursuites" and it'll just be more complications for you from there on. The best i think is to appeal to the administration for some kind of arbitration on this, such as described here https://www.om-kv.ch/fr/taches

As stated above, you will have to pay it to avoid worse things, a poursuite can be a bit of a nightmare  and you would end up paying fines on top of the bill. 

Do you pay tax here? if so, you sould be able to claim against it.

I am not familiar with European Heath Insurance,  maybe as you are only here tmporarily, if not posible here, you could claim in Italy aginst your taxes in some way?

Sorry for typos above .. writing in a hurry.. hope it's clear..

Yes Marco - you definitely have to pay it.   The LaMal has a very tenuous link to your European Insurance, but it's more of a legal necessity than actual insurance.  It's also more or less worthless for small invoices and has different stipulations as you're here temporarily and as a student. 

So when the doc said "yes" he would have meant that you have to pay it, then claim it back under your European Insurance when you're back in Italy, not your temporary LaMal.

Just make sure you keep all the receipts and paperwork and good luck!

Hy Marco, is it possible that you have chosen a high deductible (franchise) on your mandatory health insurance? I suppose when you have seen a regular doctor, that the bill is established with the legal tarif position what means paid by your insurance. But as you have (as everyone else) an annual deductible (you can choose between CHF 300.- to CHF 2500.- every year), the first medical costs till you reached this amount are taken into deduction from this amount. Once reached your franchise, the health insurance pays the 90 % of the medical bills. Hope you see a bit clearer now. You find here a great document which explains the swiss health system quite well https://www.bag.admin.ch/dam/bag/en/dokumente/kuv-aufsicht/krankenversicherung/sie-fragen-wir-antworten-oblig-kv.pdf.download.pdf/broschuere-sie-fragen-wir-antworten-e.pdf 

Cheers Daniela

You are in a situation where you need to take action without further delay.

First of all, ask the insurance company why your coverage is insufficient or non-existent for the treatment concerned.

Then, if you do have to pay the bill, ask for an arrangement to pay by instalment.  Most insurance companies are cooperative in this respect.

What you must not do is dally.  The longer you delay taking action, the greater the risk of your bill being forwarded to the debt collection authority and that will involve payment plus a fine and a blot on your payment record.

So get weaving – and all the best,

R.

The best option is to pay it and ask questions later. If it is too much you can make a payment arrangement and pay them monthly. As long as you are paying this should be fine. The problem comes in when you do not pay.

Hello, can someone please let me know what kind of App I should have on my phone to pay doctor fees in Geneva? Thank you in advance 

Hi Lisa, to my knowledge there are no Apps to pay doctor fees...You should pay them with the orange slip or in an electronic way (e-bill). Maybe your health insurance has an App where you can download the details of the bill for reimbursment or taking into consideration of your deductible. Kind regards Daniela

Hi Daniela and thank you so much for your reply. By the way, I have checked around and I was told if we have a bank account in Geneva, the bank usually should have this app. 

In any case, I was able to pay it at La Poste with no extra charges. 

Thanks again, 

Cheers, Lisa.