In June we’re expecting our first child.
I heard it’s important to get insurance before the baby is born? yet some online calculators only let me choose 2022 as start date (ehh…?!)
On a similar note, someone told me that getting additional dental cover including orthodontics is good value for babies (ehh…?).
Any insights on what makes sense regarding health insurance for unborn/newborn kids? If it matters: my partner is Swiss and the plan is to stay here.
Thanks!
If you plan to get your child extra cover like private ward or anything else it’s important you get them before he is born because you won’t need to fill in a questionnaire to get them. If you get them once he is born you will have to fill in one and that’s problematic if the baby is born with a condition.
When it comes to teeth insurance, orthodontics are really expensive here so it does indeed make sense to get it because the probability of having misaligned teeth is usually high. There as well you need to do your own research, all insurances offer different plans, this link in French summarizes them all link . For teeth insurance you don’t need to take it before birth (that also depends on the plan and what the insurance offers, some start accumulating coverage form birth like Assura), insurances do not require a questionnaire for those before the kid is 2 or 3 (again you need to check, that’s different for all of them).
Yes absolutely, Get the newborn health insurance before the birth. If he needs any surgery at birth or after, the health insurance will cover it (private or semi-private). If he has a condition and you don’t have the health insurance, then you will have to fill in a questionaire, which can cause many issues.
Dental insurance yes, but not at birth. You can deal with it later (3-4 years).
Thanks for the response! Good to know we can delay the dentistry thing… a bit 
I understand the difference is mainly about supplemental insurance. I’ve never had any myself, so am a bit at loss what to look for.
Are we talking only about ‘comfort’ like private ward and such, or are there medical issues that are simply not covered by the general insurance that generally you’d want to have covered?
You should check the price difference for the insurance with and without the “private” upgrade and also what’s included or not.
For a new born the price difference is quite small.
I believebit’s really a no brainer
With a private upgrade, you can choose your doctor (if you need a specialist who practices in clinique for instance) your hospital (you can go to clinique), you have your own room…
I like the css myFlex products: they offer different insurance classes with different cost sharing models and a simple “upgrade option” - for a few CHF p.m. you get an option to move to a higher class every few years without med. exam…
Soon to be father, so we are going through this process and I wanted to bump up the topic to learn from your experiences.
If I get it right, the general opinion is to get all possible insurances before baby is born and then you can always cancel, since it is harder or even impossible to get the supplementals if the baby is sick or because there will be more administrative burden. Is that correct? How did you do and how would you do it today?
That’s correct. It’s recommended to get an insurance package before the birth.
I would say the most important is the dental package since you can’t know for many years how much you will have to pay for dentist and orthodentist. And as soon as you have a problem, it’s too late to get an insurance. It’s not a matter of administrative burden, it’s a matter of the reserves an insurance would take. Once you have a health issue, supplemental insurance becomes either much more expensive or they would simply refuse you
We did that 3 months before the birth of my son, with Assura, they have a package for kids.
I thought with dental, you can decide this in the year the kid turns 3 (CSS told us). We are contemplating now whether we want to add dental for our 3yo
That’s not what Assura told us and in any case I would prefer not having the freedom to forget 
maybe it’s different from one insurance to the other?
I have read that @Graff did the same for the dental insurance of his baby in this thread.
I think the other discussion add some info for newborn as well.
What did you choose on the end?
The compulsory health insurance (Grundversicherung) is for the basic coverage. Don’t forget to the accident insurance. You can apply for it within the first three months after the birth. They have to take you independent of the health status. But it make sense to do it before, because the time after the birth will be stressful.
Furthermore, there are supplemental insurances (Zusatzversicherung). I am aware that a dental insurance is a must, but you can do it later (depending on the insurer) without health check.
What is the benefit of the other supplemental insurances?
(Semi-) private? Most hospitals don’t have a private section for babies. No need in my opinion.
Is there any case, which justifies a supplemental insurance?
my suggestion is do it before is born, simplicity. (not sure about other implications)
Some health insurance offer deals for a new born.I had a deal with the insurance that 3 first 3 years of dental insurance for free. I did calculation some time ago and unless your child has some big issues (like my eldest one, already > 2k this year and he is 6 yo :o). There is no much benefit on. Dentist at the age of almost 3 should be able to assess if he will have issues in the future
Except for the dental -->Basic coverage is really good under my view
Do it before its born so if you happen to have complications you are covered.
Dental is either free or can be added until the child is 3 years old without a health check.
The other parts of supplemental insurance you have to check for yourself if it’s worth it to you.
You are right, that there is no private or semi-private at the neonatology unit, but there is on the normal wards. Also not all sick babies stay in the neonatology, just fyi. Hospitals in pediatrics are never able to guarantee a private room for anyone but you have priority. There are some other perks like free parking etc.
Sometimes glasses or contacts are covered.
Vaccines that are not covered by compulsory health insurance (think yellow fever, abdominal typhoid) are partly covered by supplemental.
Meds that are not covered by health insurance might be partly covered by supplemental insurance.
Is this anything you need, I don’t know.
With Helsana, though, don’t take the baby package they offer but mix individually. In the baby package the orthodontics package is joint with another package meaning that later on as an adult your child can only drop both or none instead of dropping only the orthodontics package. I called them and they confirmed.
Shouldn’t be a problem to add it later?
That’s a good point.
I assume that important vaccines are covered by the compulsory health insurance. Yellow fewer vaccinations might be needed for travelling to certain countries.
Good point.
Question to parents: Did you use the supplemental insurance during the first years after birth?
By the way, the “Krankenpflege-Plus-Versicherung” and " Krankenpflege-Comfort-
Versicherung" from KPT offers a 100 CHF bonus for a newborn. The yearly premium is less than 100 CHF for the “Krankenpflege-Plus-Versicherung”. Why not take out, get the bonus and terminate after 1 year if not deemed useful?
Shouldn’t be a problem to add it later?
Depends. Your child might have strabismus, your child might have another eye problem. Supplemental insurance can be denied for any reason. Sometimes they can exclude certain things from supplemental insurance as well.
I assume that important vaccines are covered by the compulsory health insurance. Yellow fewer vaccinations might be needed for travelling to certain countries.
Yes. Like I said, vaccines that are not covered by compulsory insurance can be covered supplemental. Tetanus, pertussis, diptheria, pneumococci, meningococci, hepatitis B,… are covered. Others that are mainly needed for traveling (yellow fever, japanese encephalitis, etc.) are not.
Question to parents: Did you use the supplemental insurance during the first years after birth?
Lots of parents use them. Craniosacral/osteopathic therapy is very popular among parents, homeopathy is very popular as well. If they do or don’t work I won’t comment on.
Why not take out, get the bonus and terminate after 1 year if not deemed useful?
All of them (AFAIK) are 3 year plans. You can cancel but you’ll still have to pay. I haven’t checked the one you’re talking about but sometimes they require both mom and the child to be insured by the same insurance (maybe even the same supplemental insurance).
For both children we used the supplemental health insurance in the first 3 years (medications, dinner for parents during hospital stay with child, yellow fever vaccination)
Hi All,
Our 2nd son is expected to be born on mid May, I asked my insurer (CSS) to have an “Illness-Related Death or Disability” supplementary insurance and they answered me that “PREMIUM products and capital can be insured after 1 month of the birth”. Is that correct?
Many thanks,