delay in health insurance
Thousands of Swiss people don’t have an insurance card
As a result of the many health insurance changes, the delivery of new insurance cards is massively delayed. This increases the administrative effort in the healthcare system – and can become a problem when travelling.
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Tens of thousands of Swiss are still waiting for their insurance cards at the beginning of the year.
Jean Claude RaemyEditor Economics
Inflation is causing problems for the Swiss. A tried and tested means of reducing costs in the household is to change health insurance companies. Around a quarter of all Swiss households made use of this at the end of 2022.
This leads to a special problem. Tens of thousands of Swiss people are still waiting for their insurance card at the beginning of the year. This is reported by the “SonntagsZeitung”.
The reason for the problem is that card orders from all health insurance companies go through Sasis AG. The subsidiary of the Santésuisse health insurance association is registering three times more orders for insurance cards than usual. Because the capacity of the card manufacturer is limited, there are now delays, a spokesman is quoted as saying.
Not all affected equally
Both customers who need a new card due to a change of insurer and those whose previous card has expired are affected. Around 20,000 people are said to be affected at Helsana and around 14,500 at CSS. Other health insurance companies such as KPT, Assura or Swica do not give any figures, but confirm problems in this regard.
Not all cash registers are affected. For example, Concordia issued all insurance cards in good time. This is because the bottlenecks were foreseen and a production slot was reserved early on by the manufacturer.
These problems can arise
The problem should be solved within the next three weeks. For the time being, the lack of insurance cards can cause various problems. According to Comparis expert Felix Schneuwly, doctors and hospitals, for example, have an increased administrative burden because they have to enter patient data manually. In addition, the lack of an insurance card when traveling can become a problem. A credit card may then be required for medical care.
Those without a card are recommended to ask the insurance company for their insurance number and, if possible, to have a replacement certificate issued. In theory, however, it should also be sufficient to present the valid policy.
Sanis has set up a hotline for those affected.