Changing Health Insurance Deductible Mid-Year in Switzerland

Banks, Insurances & Third Pillar
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In 2022, I had a basic health insurance policy with a deductible (franchise) of 300 CHF starting from January. However, due to exceptional circumstances (which I cannot disclose for privacy reasons), I requested my insurance company to increase my deductible to 2500 CHF in September, and they agreed. Consequently, my deductible for September to December 2022 was 2500 CHF, resulting in lower premiums compared to the 300 CHF deductible for those three months.

Recently, I received a bill from my health insurance company requesting payment for the premium difference for those three months. They stated that the government informed them that “by law they are not allowed to change the deductible of basic health insurance during the year.”

My question is: Is there indeed such a law? While I understand that insurance companies are not obligated to change the deductible mid-year, does the law also prevent them from doing so as a favor upon my request?

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https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1995/3867_3867_3867/fr
Article 94b…it’s surprising that an insurance company is not even aware of that…

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Thanks, Guillaume!

After reviewing Article 94b, I couldn’t find any mention of the insurance company being permitted to reduce my deductible from 300 to 2500 CHF mid-year (in September). Could you please direct me to where this is stated?

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Huh - am I missing something?

That’s the point @Guillaume_GVA was making: He provided you - as you asked in your initial post - with the legal basis (Article 94b) that prevents the insurance from changing your deductible within the year.

According to your account, they did it for you anyways (for the period of September to December 2022). They must have subsequently noticed that that wasn’t allowed. Therefore they’re now charging your for the difference in premiums (September through December is actually four months, not three).

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