Siobhan,

Check a Swiss revue "Bon a Savoir" / Mon Droits / Conseiles Juridiques / Assurance / Droit du patient.

It's a consumer rights revue in French. (it must also exist in German). They have an service where you can explain your case and they will give their input and follow up where the case is not clear. They might be very helpful and point out some paths.

Hi there,

thanks so much. So if I google 'Swiss revue' i get the website? do you have an website address for this organisation? 

http://www.bonasavoir.ch/

Hi,

There is also La Fédération Romande des Consommateurs (www.frc.ch) which can be helpful : http://www.frc.ch/pages.php?id=88

Sorry for this story...

Hello, do you know the name of the insurance compagny?

does your friend have insurance called " protection juridique"?

If your friend is insure with the swiss legal insurance, he can go to "Service de l assurance maladie", wich is in rue de Frontenex. It s the office managing swiss healthcare system in Geneva.

Good luck

This also seems to be helpful : https://secure.om-kv.ch/html/notre-sujet.html

my understanding for the situation that you describe, if the man has no "fortune"  i.e. real-estate, or other assets, then the state will cover his basic costs. either the social services or A.I will cover him. in any case,he, nor you, need get stressed or upset. he will carry on with his treatmets ( the state hospital will not throw him out in the street ) and the costs will be covered.

he needs to go to the assistance social in his commune and request the forms. this is handled quite efficiently and without stress.

i hope you have found this helpful.

Thank you Vincent, I have forwarded this on. really appreciate this.

Siobhan.

insurance company is 'golden care'.

Not sure if he has protection juridique, i will ask.

I will forward the info on. really appreciate this information. :-) its hard when one is relatively new in a country to find out where all the correct info is. and swiss med system has to be the most complicated in the world!! ;-)

Best,

Siobhan.

'epicure' ;-)

Thanks, that is quite reassuring and essential to know.... I have passed it all on.....really helpful.

Thanks to everyone for all this, what a helpful and kind community we live in ;-)

wishing you all bon soirée.  :-)

Overall, insurance in switzerland is very tricky. I know a case where a friend of mine got ejected from his car insurance company because he had a few accidents in a row. The justification was that they do not make any profit from him. Apperantly they have the right to kick off anybody they don't like (based on the super detailed contract that you sign of course)according to the law, as he checked later with a lawyer.

thanks Osan.

its amazing how discrimatory insurance can be here.......my friend has now hired a lawyer also, but he wants to also have the facts himself to make sure the lawyer is doing his work.  I am collating info for him as he is too ill to do it himself or course.

:-)

I seem to remember Golden Care from my first days in Switzerland as a student. Then, I was not obliged to have the normal Swiss health coverage - known as "LAMal" - but was able to take advantage of cheaper rates for non-permanent residents.

That could be the difference. LAMal (Loi sur l'assurance-maladie obligatoire) is supposed to cover everything.

Hey Sio, 

1. I'm assuming your friend had the regular Swiss basic health-insurance. In this case the treatments that are covered / not covered by the insurance are set by law (and are identical for all insurers), and are highly regulated & enforced. Any decent lawyer will be able to tell you if you have a case of not. 

2. If your friend didn't have the regular Swiss basic Health-insurance things could get more tricky, cos then there's no regulated contract. In this case different companies can offer different things, and it's here they stick you with all the fine print the usually says, in lawyer talk, "we won't be here if you need us". 

3. I asked the glocals insurance rep at Allianz, Fanny, to see if she can help you with some info. You'll hear from her soon. 

Wish the best to your friend!

Nir

Hi Nir,

Thanks for your very comprehensive reply, it's really good to know some parameters of possibilities ;-)

I also look forward to hearing from Fanny at Alliance.

Thanks for your good wishes.

Siobhan.

Hello Slobhan,  

Is your friend officially Swiss resident? If so, he should insured by the LAMAL (compulsory basic health care). If that is not the case, then he could go to any private insurer and ask a LAMAL insurance.

As this is mandatory to be insured by a Swiss company as soon as you have a step in the country, it will be possible  that the company ask your friend to pay the premium since the day he actually arrived in Switzerland.

Regarding his actual cover, it’s most likely that they are insuring up to a certain capital (usually CHF 100,000) which can be a good thing for student (because the premium are usually lower) but also bad in case of a big issue.

I hope this help and I wish all go for the best for your friend

Fanny

Let's be very clear about this: If your friend had the compulsory swiss health insurance (also called "Lamal") then this would NOT have happened. Why? Because they don't have the right to reject anyone. And they DO NOT do it. Ever.

Private insurance is very different: they can accept somebody or not, ask for higher prices or not, women in childbearing age usually pay more than men, etc.

Golden Care is, as far as I know, not on the list of official Lamal providers in Switzerland (you can get this list at the "Service des assurances maladie" of the canton of Geneva). So yes, they probably do have the right to throw somebody out, as they are regulated by private law, NOT lamal (=loi sur les assurances maladie).

As was suggested before, if your friend lives in Switzerland, he can get the usual compulsory insurance at any insurance, and they HAVE to accept him. Comparis allows to compare prices. He should do this ASAP.

Hope this helps

eva

btw, Allianz does not offer health insurance, so not sure if they're interested to help....

Siobhan, if you need to know more about how the health insurance system works here in Switzerland or need tips on how to get one, send me a message. I am NOT an insurance person (I'm a doctor) but I'm Swiss and used to dealing with this.

Eva

Sio:

I think the key good news here, from reading Eva's abnd Fanny's replies, are that:

Even if your friend was not insured with a basic Swiss health insurance until now, he can still get it now (if he lives in CH). This insurance will cover most of his future costs in case of such a serious illness such as cancer.

By law, no basic health insurer is allowed to refuse insuring , even if he's sick already. And by law, when it comes to basic health insurance, no conditions can be put on his contract.

Nir

Oh and I forgot the obvious: Your friend needs to talk about this to his doctor asap! I assume he's being treated at HUG (Hôpital Universitaire de Genève) - if he's treated at a private clinic he needs to be transferred there asap - and they have a social service. The treating doctor (or nurse) can contact them and a social worker will see him and help him with all the paperwork needed, also concerning financial issues (he might be able to get some financial help for paying the insurance). No need to feel embarrassed to ask them for help - it's their job.

I think this is about the only useful thing he can do now, rather than surf the web for information and contact whatever lawyer or other (expensive!) resources - he should now concentrate on his health, get on with his treatment, get the proper insurance - because very probably he will not be able to do anything against Golden Care.