Premium shock: Up to 1 million people are likely to switch health insurance – this is the cheapest

Time is running out, if you want to change your health insurance policy, you have to cancel the contract before November 30th. And given the announced premium increase of an average of 6.6 percent, that should be a lot this year, a lot even: up to a million people. At least that’s what Marcel Thom, health insurer at Accenture, expects. “Receiving the new policy for 2023 should wake up many.”

>> Here’s how to change your health insurance fund

Because although the willingness to save on health care is extremely low and the gap between the cheapest and most expensive premium is narrowing, switching from basic insurance can save hundreds of francs a year.

In any case, the price structure has been shaken up considerably this fall, according to the latest analysis by Accenture. “The big health insurers have lost a lot of premium attractiveness in some cases,” says Thom.

In fact, a year ago the two top dogs Helsana and CSS lured with relatively attractive offers, but now KPT dominates the map. The Bern-based insurer offers the cheapest policies in a whopping 13 of its 42 premium regions. It has accumulated a total of 126 premium ranks in all premium regions and all insurers – while Helsana has lost a total of 318 premium ranks at the same time:

KPT's price push isn't the only surprising finding of the latest Accenture survey: Thom says it's just as surprising that small, regionally active insurers are leading the way in another 13 premium regions. In the Zurich Oberland, for example, health insurer Wädenswil has the cheapest offer, in the city of Lucerne the health insurer Luzerner Hinterland and in the canton of Aargau de Aquilana.

The reduction of the reserves at the health insurance funds this autumn is hardly relevant when comparing premiums. A year ago, 14 health insurers - also under pressure from Health Minister Alain Berset - tapped into their spare cushions and thus somewhat cushioned the premium pressure. In total, CHF 380 million was redistributed to the insured in this way and the health insurers promised to make use of reserve funds again this year.

But despite strong promises, they are now forgoing further voluntary cuts in reserves. Only Sympany and the Groupe Mutuel health insurance company Supra cut their monthly premiums by 5 and 10 francs respectively with reserve funds - thus forming a number of premium ranks. Both health insurers will return approximately 10 million francs each to their policyholders.

The change of health insurer this autumn will not be without consequences for the whole of 2023. Because if thousands or even tens of thousands actually opt for the cheapest provider, many, and especially the small health insurers, will face major challenges, as Thom adds: Because then they would first have to build up their reserves to meet the legal requirements: "And second, they must prove that they can maintain their services despite a vastly larger customer base."

Marcel Thom also expects premium changes for the supplementary insurance policies. "It's worth taking a good look at the new policy now." But here the latitude for the insured is much smaller, in fact only the young and healthy can change without limitations.

The insured therefore mainly situate the savings potential in the basic insurance. A representative survey commissioned by Accenture from the Link Institute shows that more than 40 percent of those who want to stay with their insurance company are considering raising their deductible or switching to other, cheaper insurance models. Only 12 percent are considering terminating the supplementary insurance.

Only 20 percent of policyholders with basic and supplementary insurance have insurance with two different providers. Quite a few of them probably because, trapped by their supplementary insurance, they have transferred their basic insurance to a cheaper health insurer.

Marcel Thom sees a lot of potential here – for both policyholders and providers who want to enter the supplementary insurance market. Because no less than 46 percent of the respondents indicated that they could certainly imagine separating the basic insurance and the supplementary insurance.

The current premium increase could lead to a hot premium fall and many health insurers to switch: but this will not change the notoriously rising health care costs, which ultimately lay the foundation for the ever-rising premiums.

Because the insured can optimize their premium, but do not want to save on their health. This is also evident from the representative Link survey: While about half of those surveyed are willing to cut back on eating out, decorating their home or buying clothes, only 5 percent want to cut health spending.

"Many are clearly unaware of how great their savings potential is without significant loss of quality in health insurance premiums," says Thom. And it also shows that the “absolute pain threshold” has not yet been reached by the insured.