Hi Linlin,

You have two different kinds of health insurance:

-The basic (and compulsory) one. Its cost vary from one provider to the other, according to the deductible you choose, to whether you include the accidents and to whether you choose a special formula with a reduced choixe of providers (that's called HMO). These choices made, the premiums are the same for every adult, whathever their age. A company canot adapt the rates to the individual case;

-The additional insurances, that are optional. It's a private contract, so every insurance company can set its premiums the way it wants.

Now I assume that you refer to the basic insurance. Yes, its cost grows every year, and for everybody. You have three options to reduce it:

- Choose a cheaper basic health insurance provider (here is the list of the prices in Geneva: https://www.ge.ch/assurances/maladie/primes-2016.asp). A company can not refuse to accept you. The benefits are fixed by law and are therefore supposed to be the same in any basic health insurance;

-Choose a higher deductible (it pays if you don't go too much to the medic);

-Choose a HMO formula.

If you want to do any of these changes, you have to do it before November 22. You can find model letters to terminate your cotract and to another one on this website (https://www.ge.ch/assurances/maladie/principes-base.asp?inc=6#6, "lettre de résiliation" and "demande d'adhésion")

Now, needy people can also be helped by the social services, (in Geneva, the Hospice général, http://www.hospicegeneral.ch/) given that they meet certain criterias

Hope it helps

Hi Bustan,

thank you very much for the detailed information. I have another question: Why it is Nov 22 if I want to terminate with the current insurance?

It's a legal requirement, but I can't tell you why it was adopted. Anyway, most of the people swap their basic health insurance provider in automn, after they received notification of the new premiums