Hi Keri,

If your complementary insurance is an health insurance, you can always cancel it whenever you have a claim (ie: you get sick and have to use the benefits of covered by the complimentary insurance) or in the event of a price change...

Cheers,

Jérôme

Hey Emma,

Welcome to the jungle of insurance in Geneva...(-:

Which insurance to work with:
I found out that a lot depends on the personal insurance agent you find, rather than on the insurance company itself. I personally use the services of Fanny from Allianz, and I'm happy with her.

Cheap insurance:
It's a competetive market, and I don't think you'll find real bargains. You might be able to save a bit here and a bit there by getting different insurances with different companies, but it won't be significant. if someone offers you real cheap insurance, then something is not covered in it.

3rd pillar: I'd strongly recommend to get it as early as possible. You'll only see the money from it when you retire (or when you leave CH, or buy a house), and now that may seem verrrryyyyyy far off. But the sooner you start 3rd Pillar, the more the accumalated interest will work for you. I only started it recently, and I kick myself for that almost daily. Plus, for every year of 3rd pillar, you'll save ca CHF 2000 in tax...Not bad.

Hope this helps,

Nir

What is this 3rd pillar anw?

Maria,

It's a pension saving fund, that is 100% tax deductable.

And you can pull out the money if you leave CH.

So it's really a no brainer.

Nir

Thanks Nir :)

So its different than a savings account in a bank?

Yo Maria,

It's different for the good and for the bad, mainly this way:

Good:

- it's 100% tax deductable. A regular bank account isn't.

- the interest rate on it is better than a regular account

Bad:

You can only pull out your money (plus interest) either when you retire, or when you leave CH, or when you buy a house, or open a business.

Nir

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the answers, this is great! Nir, I don't see how your bad points are actually so bad. Actually, it makes sure you won't be wasting valuable money you'll be needing when you grow old :-) And if you can take it when you decide to leave CH then why not. I think I'm gonna go ahead with it and start saving straight away. Thanks guys

Yo Em,

Fair enough, good point.

I can only recommend Fanny from allianz ([email protected]) for the 3rd Pillar, and for any other Insurance things.

Bonne chance!

Nir

Thanks Nir :)

I used Comparis.ch where you can compare prices on a lot of usefull things as insurance as well.

When I did the comparison Zurich was cheapest, however then I got a quote from Fanny Allianz in here and in the end my relocation agent got me an even cheaper quote with Allianz which I ended up using :-)

Little known secret about Comparis:  always make sure you view your results in the so called "Extended view" (there's a dropdown at the bottom of the results) instead of the default view.

The default view only shows you the sponsored listings (that's how Comparis is making money...), especially in the health section

Yo Em,

I think Voyarch's reply is a bit misleading, in 2 ways:

1. You don't have to be 'really sick' in order to use your health insurance.
You can use your basic health insurance for almost everything, from regular doctor visits, to X-rays, to medicine. So even if you're not very sick, you can use it.

2. All basic-health policies are identical, by law, so the coverage is identical whether you go with the cheapest or most expensive company.
The difference is on service levels (speed of payment, etc), but that does not depend on price. There's also a difference of coverage if you go for complementry insurance, but that's a different story.

Nir

Hey Nir,

I think he was actually saying that usually, most healthy young people choose a high cost participation ("franchise" in french), which they usually won't reach until they get really sick. So basically, most young people try to get cheap premium, choose a high cost participation, never reach it, so never use the basic coverage. By the way, one of the way to reduce the premiums is to choose a plan where you've to see a specific doctor first.

But you're right, all basic-health covers are the same by law, and difference from one company to another depends on some other things, like speed of payment, and by the complimentary covers they offer (even if you could take this in another company that where you got your basic cover, most people don't do that).

One important thing to take in mind however, as here it was a young woman asking. When they are pregnant, they are fully covered, without a cost participation (as long as all goes normally at least if i remember correctly), so getting a "good" company can be important there.

Rémy

Hi Emma,

Kery is right, there is no contract that would make you stuck without any exit. It is true in Switzerland, most of the insurance contract are for 5 years, but you can break them any time you do have a claim (you have 15 days to send a letter to end the contract).

I guess that the insurance portfolio can be a big budget here. That is why you need to find an advisor that you can trust as much as your banker. The 3rd pilar would be part of your insurance portfolio and can be explained by someone that understand well your needs.

I would be happy to discuss it with you, and advise you if you need:

You can call me, +47798636821

Good luck

Fanny

Voyarch,

OK, I understand you now. Ofcourse that if you decided to go for a self-participation sum of CHF 2500 per year, you can claim less from your insurance.

It's your choice: you can go for a lower self participation fee (as low as CHF 300), or for a higher one (as high as 3000). Your monthly premium will be higher / lower depending on that.

If you're young and healthy, higher self participation and a lower monthly premium is the way to go.

Nir