Thousands of Swiss do not have insurance cards

Inflation is a problem for Switzerland. A tried and tested way to cut costs at home is to switch health insurance companies. At the end of 2022 about a quarter of all Swiss households used it.

This causes a particular problem. Tens of thousands of Swiss are still waiting for their insurance cards at the beginning of the year. This is reported by “SonntagsZeitung”.

The reason for the problem is that card orders from all health insurance companies go through Sasis AG. The subsidiary of the Santésuisse health insurance association records three times more insurance card orders than usual. A spokesperson said there are now delays due to the limited capacity of the card manufacturer.

Not all are equally affected

Both customers who need a new card due to a change in insurer and customers whose old card has expired are affected. About 20,000 people are said to be affected in Helsana and about 14,500 in CSS. Other health insurance companies such as KPT, Assura or Swica do not give any figures but confirm the problems in this regard.

Not all crates are affected. For example, Concordia issued all of its insurance cards on time. This is because bottlenecks are foreseen and a production area is reserved in advance by the manufacturer.

These problems can occur

The issue should be resolved within the next three weeks. The lack of insurance cards for now can cause various problems. According to Compparis expert Felix Schneuwly, doctors and hospitals, for example, have an increased administrative burden as they have to manually enter patient data. Also, not having an insurance card while traveling can be a problem. A credit card may be required for medical care later on.

It is recommended that those who do not have a card ask the insurance company for the insurance number and, if possible, issue a replacement certificate. However, presenting the policy valid in theory should also be sufficient.

Sanis has set up a helpline for those affected.