Occupational Disability Insurance - necessary in Switzerland?

Banks, Insurances & Third Pillar
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Dear Mustachians

I am living now for about 6 years in Switzerland and still have my occupational disability insurance (“Berufsunfähigkeitsvericherung”) which I started when I was a student in Germany. At that time I was told that health insurance, liability insurance and occupational disability insurance are the three essential insurances in Germany.

Now that I get a little bit settled in Switzerland I wonder if this kind of insurance is necessary here (and the monthly costs of it are also quite high)?

Thanks for your opinions!

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Your 2nd pillar should be your invalidity insurance. If the compensation is not enough you could take a private one.

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Hi @shapest

My situation is similar to yours (less time spent in CH though… nearing 2 years). I just paid for another year of my German BU and was wondering what you finally decided w.r.t. your own policy.

I’ve done some research but have yet to find a clear answer concerning how exactly a case of (temporary or permanent) disability would impact someone who is still on a B permit.

The policy I currently have would pay way too little to cover much anyway (1k per month) and I suspect that in the (perhaps not so unrealistic) worst case it might simply be considered income and reduce any other payments (e.g. from 2nd pillar insurance) by the same amount - so if that’s the case it’s CHF 600 a year I could easily save.

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I am still stuck in the same setting (my german BU insurance would as well cover only about 1500 EUR per month) and did not find any solid advice on how to be well prepared for the incident of not being able to work (partially or completely) and maintain almost the current financial lifestyle. Meanwhile I got my C permit but I don´t know what that really changes in terms of occupational disability.

Right now I am kind of preoccupied with a huge exam in late summer.
But after that: Clarifiying this topic is priority #1 on my list since this costs me ca. 160 CHF per month.

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