Moving in 2027: which health insurer costs the least over the year?

Yes, if you move to another premium region. Your place of residence is what counts (art. 61 para. 2 LAMal): your insurer charges the premium of your new commune’s region for the same offer. In 11 cantons the communes are split into two or three premium regions (Basel-Landschaft, Bern, Fribourg, Graubünden, Lucerne, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Ticino, Valais, Vaud, Zurich), so a move within the same canton can also change the premium. Between two communes of the same premium region, it does not change.

No federal rule sets the day, and insurers do it differently: some charge the new premium from the day of the move, others from the first of a month. This calculation counts whole months, with the new place’s premium from the month after the move. One month more or less at the new rate changes the total by the difference between the two monthly premiums; the result shows it. The move has to be reported to your insurer: the general terms and conditions of several insurers ask for written notice, usually within a month.

For each offer available in both places: the months up to and including the month of the move at the old place’s rate, then the following months at the new place’s rate, with the FOPH premiums for 2027. Example, from Lausanne to Genève in June 2027: Sanitas, TelMed Basic costs 6 × 588.10.- + 6 × 629.10.- = 7'303.- (an adult aged 26 or over, 300.- deductible, with accident cover). The deductible and the co-payment (Selbstbehalt / quote-part) are not added: they do not depend on the place and do not change the order of the offers.

As a rule, no. A premium adjustment after a move gives no extraordinary right to cancel (FOPH). The dates remain 1 January, with a cancellation your insurer receives by 30 November 2026 at the latest, and 1 July 2027 if you have the standard model, the ordinary deductible (300.- for adults, 0.- for children) and no bonus insurance, with a cancellation received by 31 March 2027 at the latest (art. 7 para. 1 and 2 LAMal). The exception is the next question.

An insurer can limit its activity to certain regions (FOPH). If you have to change insurer because you move, your insurance with it ends at the time of the move (art. 7 para. 3 LAMal); with the old insurer, however, it only ends once the new one has told it that you are insured without interruption (art. 7 para. 5 LAMal). The new insurer takes over your deductible if it offers it, and counts the deductible and co-payment already billed in the year (art. 94 para. 3 and 103 para. 4 OAMal). The calculation lists these insurers separately, below the list of offers.

Not always. A model that limits the choice of doctors is open to people who live in the region where the insurer runs it (art. 100 para. 1 OAMal). What applies when you leave that region depends on your insurer’s conditions; those of some insurers provide for a switch to the standard model with the same deductible. This does not give you a right to change insurer (FOPH). The calculation lists these offers separately, below the list of offers.

In one direction, yes: moving from free choice of doctor to a model that limits that choice (family doctor, HMO, telemedicine) is possible at any time with the same insurer, except with bonus insurance (art. 100 para. 2 OAMal). The insurer sets the date. Going back to free choice is only possible at the end of a calendar year (art. 100 para. 3 OAMal).

As a rule, no: they follow your contract, not your place. An insurer does not have to offer every deductible, though (FOPH). A higher deductible can only be chosen for the start of a calendar year, a lower one only for its end (art. 94 para. 1 and 2 OAMal). Accident cover can be suspended while your employer insures you against accidents (art. 8 LAMal): that is a separate change, with its own date. This calculation keeps the same deductible and the same cover for the whole year.

If you already live at the new place on 1 January 2027 and stay there, the whole of 2027 is paid at the new place’s rate. The insurer for 2027 is chosen by 30 November 2026 (cancellation received by the old insurer, art. 7 para. 2 LAMal): the comparison for your new commune then gives the full result.

The canton where you were domiciled on 1 January, for the whole calendar year (art. 5 para. 1 ORPM, SR 832.112.4). The following year, the new canton’s rules apply. This calculation does not include premium reductions.

They are not part of this calculation. Supplementary insurance is a separate contract with its own conditions (art. 7 para. 7 and 8 LAMal). For moving abroad, or for living abroad and working in Switzerland, different insurance rules apply.