If you've searched the internet for private medical insurance that covers expats in Switzerland then you are probably for looking for established UK based health insurance companies that will cover your medical expenses in Switzerland.
Living as an expat in Switzerland you want to avoid any unwanted and unexpected medical costs. In some countries these can amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds for very serious conditions.
Our advice when looking for private medical cover that covers expatriates living in Switzerland is to speak to a insurance broker. Health insurance is incredibly complicated and if you want absolute certainty that Switzerland is covered you should talk with a health insurance broker who can explain which policy providers will cover medical expenses for expatriates in Switzerland and which will not.
There are many advantages to using a broker but the largest by far is that you're using their expertise at no cost. They are paid by the insurer (Aviva or Bupa etc) rather than you so it costs you no extra to use their brokering services.
- Do you live in many different postcodes? Some will give you a cheaper policy premium than offers. A insurance broker will be able to advise whats best.
- Do you have a hobby that may invalidate your insurance policy? A broker will know this vital information.
- If you are a couple and one of you has claimed on your policy this year would it be cheaper to separate you both onto two different insurance policies?
- You've developed a certain condition and want to know which policy provider offers the largest amount of cover for it. A broker will know this instantly saving you so much time and effort.
You can call around every health insurance provider on the market and ask if they provider cover for expats in Switzerland, however this will be a very time consuming process. Each insurer will ask for your medical history because its not normally a simple yes or not if a medical condition is covered or not.
Its far far quicker to speak to one health insurance broker which will know which policy providers on the market offer cover for expats in Switzerland and under what conditions they do or don't cover it.
Switzerland Information
Tourists are drawn to Switzerland's diverse landscape as well as activities. One of the most interesting tourist places are the Alpine climate and landscapes, in particular for skiing and mountaineering.
Tourism began in Switzerland with British mountaineers climbing the main peaks of the Bernese Alps in the early 19th century (Jungfrau 1811, Finsteraarhorn 1812). The Alpine Club in London was founded in 1857. Reconvalescence in the Alpine climate, in particular from Tuberculosis, is another important branch of tourism in the 19th and early 20th centuries for example in Davos, Graubünden. Due to the prominence of the Bernese Alps in British mountaineering, the Bernese Oberland was long especially known as a tourist destination. Meiringen's Reichenbach Falls achieved literary fame as it was the site of the fictional death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (1893). The first organised tourist holidays to Switzerland were offered during the 19th century by the Thomas Cook and Lunn Travel companies. Tourism in Switzerland had been exclusively for the rich people[clarification needed] until the 20th century.[citation needed] It started to become more popular and accessible to the general people form early 1900s.[citation needed]
Hiking is one of the main sport activities in Switzerland and is often referred to as the "national sport". About one third of the population practises hiking on a regular basis with a total of 520 million kilometres (in 130 million hours) being travelled every year by the Swiss. Along with cycling, walking in general is the preferred form of mobility, regardless of social origins. The total hiking trail network is about 65'000 kilometres.