Health Insurance not cancelled - what to do

Banks, Insurances & Third Pillar
1

Ok, i think I just got screwed.
4 years ago I subscribed to health insurance company A for my whole family (3 persons). At the time it was the cheapest for our needs and everything was fine.
But over time they increased their premiums a bit, and last year an insurance consultant promised me that he could get me the same coverage for a lower premium by switching to insurance company B.
I ​was a bit skeptical, because my premiums were already low and usually consultants gets a high margins of the insurance premiums subscribed.
But he presented me with a contract that provided the same coverage for … 5 francs less per month. In normal times I would have thought it was not worth the effort, but he told me he would take care of all the paperwork - just sign here and here for the termination request and he would send all the papers. And so we did.

So we received the new policies from company B, and we started paying our new - lower - premiums.

Everything was going well until this week. Company A contacted me to tell me that they were notified by Company B that I had asked for a switch, but they never received my termination notification. Either the consultant did not sent it, or it was lost by the post.

As a consequence, according to the Federal Law on Health Insurance, Company A still considers us insured by them, and started billing us today their premiums for 2022. They will change their mind when they receive the termination notice with a copy of the send notice (to prove it was sent at the correct date).

Of course I contacted the consultant today, who told me he would get back to me by the end of the day but so far he didn’t.

I haven’t read yet all the law on such cases, but I wonder what I my options:

  • if the consultant behaves in good faith and tells everyone it is his fault, but somehow I doubt this is what will happen…
  • If the consultant doesn’t respond, it is going to be hard for me to prove it is his fault. Does anybody knows what I should do in this case?
    • Am I forced to pay for two insurances?
    • Is the contract with company B void because the contract with company A was not terminated correctly?
    • If yes, should I contact company B to tell them that if they want their correct to not be void, they’d better contact the consultant that brought them the contract so that he sends the paperwork correctly?

Somehow I feel this will not end well…

3

Are we speaking mandatory or complementary insurance? Sounds like complementary but just to be sure.

4

Company A was Mandatory + (tiny) Complementary, Company B is only mandatory. So in fact it was not exactly the same coverage but we did not need the complementary anymore (and I was surprised why a consultant would go for mandatory only). I had signed the request to cancel both Mandatory and complementary insurances at company A.

5

Tell B that A didn’t get the cancellation, so you can’t be insured twice. So you’ll get a refund from B and keep A.

10 Likes
6

^This. I’d give the consultant a chance to sort things out themselves but if they fail to do so diligently, I’d also let slip in my letter to B that, while you did provide the required documents to the consultant at the proper time, they unfortunately failed to reach A in a timely manner.

No sense loosing sleep on this, B can’t accept you if you haven’t canceled your policy with A. Just get things sorted out and let the consultant and B deal with their relationship.

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7

Another evidence that the thing to do with insurance consultants is showing them the way out!

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8

Worst case: You stay at the previous Insurer A

"Art. 4, Art. 7 Abs. 1 und 5 KVG: Wechsel des Versicherers; Schadenersatz.
Im Zusammenhang mit dem Wechsel des obligatorischen Krankenpflegeversicherers ist eine Doppelversicherung ausgeschlossen. Das Versicherungsverhältnis beim neuen Versicherer kann erst beginnen, wenn das bisherige endet (Erw. 4). "

See:

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9

Assuming it is only mandatory health insurance:

If your new insurance provider does not inform your previous insurer about your new policy on time, then you have to remain insured with your previous insurer (A) for January. Your new insurance (B) takes effect from February. Your new insurance provider (B) must compensate for the difference between the lower January premium you should have paid and the higher premium you actually paid (to insurer A) through a reimbursement or discount.

So in the end, you will only pay the premium you should have paid. You just have to be patient. It certainly couldn’t hurt to contact the new insurer and inform them about the situation, just to expedite the process.

If you also have supplementary health insurance:

The contract terms and notice periods of each supplementary health insurance agreement take precedence. If the minimum contract terms have not yet expired, then you will have to keep the insurance. But you have every right to change mandatory health insurance providers in any case, while keeping your supplemental health insurance with your previous insurer.

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10

I like to add:

Since this year you have in VVG the right to end the contract to the end of the third year. Even if in the contract is a 5 years period mentioned.

Google for „Teilrevision VVG“ ig more details needed.

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11

… and to add: VVG is relevant for the supplementary health insurance only. The mandatory health insurance is regulated by KVG (“Wechsel des Versicheres” in Art. 7, KVG: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1995/1328_1328_1328/de#art_7)

1 Like
12

Thanks everybody, I was missing this legal framework to decide what to do. Now it is pretty clear what to do. And the consultant still did not get back to me.

I will contact company B to tell them that because the termination with Company A was not done correctly, the contract with Company B is void as per federal law and so they should reimburse me the premiums I already paid. Meanwhile I will pay what company A just billed me.

Thanks again!

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13

Just make sure to also void/cancel any signed contracts you had with the consultant. I remember that some of those people make you sign a paper where they can take care of all your contracts. Might not be the case for you, but better to double-check.

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14

Same here.

They messed it up.

What I learnt is you can only pay 1 mandatory insurance by law → so contact the insurance A + B and request to solve it. → I am in the process as they didn’t cancel the policy for 1 of my kids.

Now, I need to get fix the complementary as the Broker mention that I will not need to pay, the former insurance mention that as I didn’t cancel it before June, I will need to carry the cost at 2022.

Let’s see how it ends…

16

By the way, how did this end?

17

I contacted Company B and told them that according to federal law their contract was void. They cancelled the contracts for the three of us. I should receive a reimbursement of paid premiums within the next 10 days.

After some initial stress, it looks like everything is getting back in order. :slight_smile:

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