Hi guys! Do you know if we are allowed to use the Rega annual membership as a charity tax deduction?
According to their web page:
" The patronage contribution is tax deductible as a donation almost everywhere in Switzerland. Please see the appropriate legal provisions in the canton where you live."
If you do not find anything on your canton’s web page, your best option is to just try it.
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Awesome info. I thought it’s already cheap as a ski insurance.
I will definitely subscribe to it next year.
Great, thank you! Really appreciated.
Highly recommended for anyone doing any kind of outdoor activity.
It’s cheap insurance against the potentially high costs of a rescue by helicopter…and even if you never need their help in your lifetime you’re still financing a very useful non-profit foundation.
Also, their membership lasts until mid-May of the next calendar year, so if you join now you’ll be covered until May 15th 2022.
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Just heard the story about accident on mountains where person had accident and needed urgent transportation to hospital. Person had Rega membership, but somehow non-Rega was called out and unlucky guy had all the pleasure to pay bill on his own.
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That’s not the case at least with Air Glaciers in Wallis: your membership will pay for whoever comes to rescue you but the one you’re paying your membership to will fit the bill. I’d hope other mountainy cantons have such agreements in place too. Was it a vey small company?
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Rega is a “sacred cow” for us swiss and everybody thinks it’s a good thing. Well yes, BUT…
I stopped paying the annual donation for most of my family except for my (retired) parents. It’s not about the money, but if you actually check in which cases you eventually need to foot the bill (and not your NBU insurance or travel insurance when being abroad [or CH mountains], then there are only a few occasions in which you need it. And then you don’t have certainty that actually REGA comes as indicated by monk (in that case, the TCS Air Ambulance came). If you are injured you must rely on others to alarm emergency services. If they call 144 /117, the emergency service will dispatch whatever is available, not necessarily REGA.
What bothers me too: they buy new “toys” often. at the moment, they have a new emergency helicopter just engineered for them. Swiss people like top notch products but I have difficulties when they rely at the same time heavily on donations. And the salaries of the management team are high for an organization that runs on donations.
and btw:
i had 1998 the “pleasure” of a REGA helicopter ride. From what I recall: the ride from Klosters country side (boy scout camp, no off slope skiing) to Chur was roughly CHF 3k, charged to the insurance. Can’t say how long it lasted, I think 15 mins or so.
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I have also a Rega membership and know that my supplemental health insurance should basically cover the same things. Anything should be paid either by my insurance or rega (that pay themselves). I’ve also read negative stories about them.
I consider it some sort of double insurance + a donation to protect “our sacred swiss cows” (like someone said) but in the real sense. An help for when cows get stucks on the alps and need help. 
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I have a question regarding extra health insurance. Recently I resigned from Rega, because my health insurance has Transport costs, search, rescue and recovery operations in an emergency coverage:
100% of the costs of emergency transport and rescue cost, the deductible is waived
The following overall contribution is paid towards the cost of:
• medically necessary emergency transportation to the nearest suitable hospital by an appropriate means of transport,
• return transportation to a suitable hospital in the canton in which the insured person resides for inpatient treatment,
• rescue and recovery:100% of the costs
The following contribution is paid to the cost of search: CHF 100,000 per calendar year
Do I understand correctly it’s the same as Rega - or actually even better as it covers any S&R operation, not just by Rega?
Itäs even more complex.
If it’s an accident,your employer’s insurance should pay. Does this mean that Rega and health insurances (supplemental) are useless? Who’s going to fall ill on a mountain? It’s 99% of the time an accident.
Confusing…
Sometimes it’s not as clear as you might think. Examples I know of :
- Dehydration (eg doing sports under the sun). Doctor declared it sickness, because it is not a sudden event.
- Stress fracture, clearly a sudden event. When the invoices came, the accident insurance refused them because the doctor could only prove on the radio a “high inflammation state of the bone with partial rupture” and not a “fracture” through the whole length. Illness insurance agreed and so there was nothing to do but pay the deductible.
Both cases Rega was not involved. And for the supplementary part it would probably make no difference anyway as they generally cover transport for any type of emergency.
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