Health care in Switzerland

Every person living in Switzerland must be insured for health care within three months of arriving or being born, by law. 8,815,385 people lived in Switzerland on 1 January 2023.

The health insurance act, Article 3, read in German and in French. The ordinance adds people with a permit for at least three months, asylum seekers and people given temporary protection or admitted provisionally. Basic insurance is bought from insurers, each person on their own, adults and children alike, and insurers must accept everyone whatever their age or health, the health office says.

“Toute personne domiciliée en Suisse doit s'assurer pour les soins en cas de maladie, ou être assurée par son représentant légal, dans les trois mois qui suivent sa prise de domicile ou sa naissance en Suisse.”

In English, Dooram's translation: “The same article in the French text.”

The population is Eurostat's count for 1 January 2023.

Sources: Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Bundesgesetz über die Krankenversicherung (KVG) / Loi fédérale sur l'assurance-maladie (LAMal), SR 832.10 (the federal health insurance act, in German and French in force on 1 July 2026), Art. 3 para. 1, read 20 October 2026. Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Verordnung über die Krankenversicherung (KVV) / Ordonnance sur l'assurance-maladie (OAMal), SR 832.102 (the federal health insurance ordinance, in German and French in force on 1 August 2026), Art. 1, read 20 October 2026. Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), the Federal Office of Public Health, Krankenversicherung: Versicherungspflicht für in der Schweiz wohnhafte Versicherte / Assurance-maladie : obligation de s'assurer pour les assurés domiciliés en Suisse (the health office's page on who must be insured, German and French), read 20 October 2026. Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), Population on 1 January by age and sex (demo_pjan) (the population of Switzerland on 1 January 2023), 1 January 2023, read 20 October 2026.

Current spending on health, public and private, without investment in buildings and equipment, as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), the value of everything the country produces in a year, by the count of the World Health Organization (WHO), made with each country's own data: 11.69% for Switzerland in 2023, rounded here to one decimal. 2023 is the newest year the WHO has for every country on the dial, so every figure it is set against is the same year and the same count.

On the dial, "typical" means between the lowest quarter and the highest quarter of the 10 countries Dooram covers: from 8.8% to 11.6% of GDP. "Less than most" is below that, "more than most" above it.

Read on 21 October 2026 in the WHO's Global Health Observatory and again in the World Bank's copy of the same series; the two give the same figure for every country.

Eurostat's count for 2023 is 11.20% of GDP (the next card), lower than the WHO's 11.69%; each is right by its own count. Switzerland's own health accounts are the Federal Statistical Office's, which Dooram does not read yet.

Sources: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, through its Global Health Observatory and the World Bank's World Development Indicators, Global Health Expenditure Database, current health expenditure as a share of gross domestic product (GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011), 2023 (the World Health Organization's health accounts, every country's share of its economy spent on health, 2023), GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011; the World Bank's SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS, read 21 October 2026. Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), Health care expenditure by financing scheme (hlth_sha11_hf) and by function (hlth_sha11_hc) (the System of Health Accounts for Switzerland, 2023), hlth_sha11_hf, all financing schemes, 2023, read 20 October 2026.

Current spending on health, public and private, on the international System of Health Accounts. The OECD's copy gives the same figures. 2023 is the newest year that neither marks provisional.

Switzerland's own health accounts are made by the Federal Statistical Office, on a site Dooram does not read yet. So the page shows Eurostat's.

Dollars are converted by Dooram at the 2023 average rate of 0.8985 francs to $1 (World Bank: 0.89849; the Federal Reserve: 0.8984). Per person is over the year's average population, 8,888,822.

Sources: Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), Health care expenditure by financing scheme (hlth_sha11_hf) and by function (hlth_sha11_hc) (the System of Health Accounts for Switzerland, 2023), hlth_sha11_hf, all financing schemes, 2023, read 20 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 20 October 2026. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5A Foreign Exchange Rates (Annual), read 20 October 2026.

Compulsory health insurance paid 44.8%, government 23.3% and households 21.5% themselves; voluntary insurance, employers and charities 9.0%, and 1.4% is not known.

Two of Eurostat's tables, each the same total: who paid (the financing scheme) and what kind of care it paid for. Nothing joins a band in one column to a band in the next, because the tables do not say which money paid for which care. The shares are Eurostat's; the dollars Dooram's, at 0.89849 francs to $1.

Eurostat files most compulsory insurance as “compulsory private insurance” (41.87%) and a smaller part as “social health insurance” (2.97%); which Swiss schemes each holds Dooram has not read, so the page gives the two together. Of households' 21.5%, 5.9% is their share of insured bills (the deductible and the retention). Eurostat does not split government into the Confederation, the cantons and the communes. 1.4% of the money and 2.5% of the care are of a kind Eurostat does not know; they are shown, not spread over the rest.

Sources: Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), Health care expenditure by financing scheme (hlth_sha11_hf) and by function (hlth_sha11_hc) (the System of Health Accounts for Switzerland, 2023), hlth_sha11_hf and hlth_sha11_hc, 2023, read 20 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 20 October 2026.

An insurer charges the same premium to everyone it insures in one region, set by person, not by income; children and young adults pay less. 4,514.7 francs ($5,431) was the average premium paid for one insured person in 2025.

The health insurance act, Article 61, in German and French. Premiums differ between cantons and regions by their costs, and by the model and deductible a person chooses. The health office says premiums are set per person, regardless of income and state of health.

The 4,514.7 francs is from the health office's statistics for 2025: all the premiums paid, divided by the people insured (its tables by canton and by model agree, to 0.1). Dollars at the 2025 average rate of 0.8314 francs to $1 (World Bank: 0.831356; the Federal Reserve: 0.8305).

Sources: Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Bundesgesetz über die Krankenversicherung (KVG) / Loi fédérale sur l'assurance-maladie (LAMal), SR 832.10 (the federal health insurance act, in German and French in force on 1 July 2026), Art. 61, read 20 October 2026. Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), the Federal Office of Public Health, Prämienverbilligung / Réduction des primes (fact sheet, 29 September 2026) (the health office's fact sheet on premium reductions, German and French), read 20 October 2026. Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), the Federal Office of Public Health, Statistik der obligatorischen Krankenversicherung 2025 (tables T 3.04, T 3.05, T 4.01, T 4.07) (the statistics of compulsory health insurance, 2025, data of 15 July 2026), T 3.04 and T 3.05, Schweiz, 2025, read 20 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 20 October 2026. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5A Foreign Exchange Rates (Annual), read 20 October 2026.

The cantons must lower the premiums of people of modest means. 7,304.81 million francs ($8.79 billion) went to premium reductions in 2025: 51.3% from the cantons, 48.7% from the Confederation.

„Die Kantone gewähren den Versicherten in bescheidenen wirtschaftlichen Verhältnissen Prämienverbilligungen. Sie bezahlen den Beitrag für die Prämienverbilligung direkt an die Versicherer, bei denen diese Personen versichert sind.“

In English, Dooram's translation: “The cantons grant premium reductions to insured persons in modest economic circumstances. They pay the premium reduction directly to the insurers with whom these persons are insured.”

For low and middle incomes, children's premiums must be cut by at least 80 in 100 and those of young adults in training by at least 50 (the same article). The Confederation pays 7.5 in 100 of the gross costs of basic insurance towards the reductions, the health office says.

Sources: Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Bundesgesetz über die Krankenversicherung (KVG) / Loi fédérale sur l'assurance-maladie (LAMal), SR 832.10 (the federal health insurance act, in German and French in force on 1 July 2026), Art. 65, read 20 October 2026. Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), the Federal Office of Public Health, Prämienverbilligung / Réduction des primes (fact sheet, 29 September 2026) (the health office's fact sheet on premium reductions, German and French), read 20 October 2026.

The health office's statistics of compulsory health insurance for 2025, two tables, and its fact sheet in German and French, which gives about 7.3 billion francs. The office marks its 2025 figures incomplete. Dollars at the 2025 average rate, 0.8314 francs to $1.

Sources: Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), the Federal Office of Public Health, Statistik der obligatorischen Krankenversicherung 2025 (tables T 3.04, T 3.05, T 4.01, T 4.07) (the statistics of compulsory health insurance, 2025, data of 15 July 2026), T 4.01 and T 4.07, 2025, read 20 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 20 October 2026.

The canton and the insurer share it. Each canton sets its share every year, and it must be at least 55%.

The health insurance act, Article 49a, paragraphs 1 and 2ter, in German and French: the payments for a stay in hospital are shared between the canton and the insurers. It is a minimum for each canton; what each set for 2026 Dooram has not read.

Source: Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Bundesgesetz über die Krankenversicherung (KVG) / Loi fédérale sur l'assurance-maladie (LAMal), SR 832.10 (the federal health insurance act, in German and French in force on 1 July 2026), Art. 49a paras. 1 and 2ter, read 20 October 2026.

Of treatment: in hospital beds 23.3% ($24.23 bn), outside hospital 25.1% ($26.05 bn). Prescribed medicines alone 9.4% ($9.74 bn).

Eurostat's kinds of care, with its shares, read again in the OECD's; long-term care here is the health part only. Dollars at 0.89849 francs to $1, the 2023 average.

Sources: Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), Health care expenditure by financing scheme (hlth_sha11_hf) and by function (hlth_sha11_hc) (the System of Health Accounts for Switzerland, 2023), hlth_sha11_hc, 2023, read 20 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 20 October 2026.

An adult pays the first 300 francs of insured bills each year, the deductible, then 10% of the rest, the retention. Children pay no deductible.

The health insurance act, Article 64, and its ordinance, Article 103, in German and French; the health office's page on premiums and cost-sharing gives the same amounts. In francs only, since 2026 has no yearly average rate yet.

An adult may choose a higher deductible, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 or 2,500 francs, for a lower premium. A stay in hospital costs 15 francs a day besides, except for children, young adults in training and maternity, the health office says.

Sources: Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Bundesgesetz über die Krankenversicherung (KVG) / Loi fédérale sur l'assurance-maladie (LAMal), SR 832.10 (the federal health insurance act, in German and French in force on 1 July 2026), Art. 64, read 20 October 2026. Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Verordnung über die Krankenversicherung (KVV) / Ordonnance sur l'assurance-maladie (OAMal), SR 832.102 (the federal health insurance ordinance, in German and French in force on 1 August 2026), Art. 103, read 20 October 2026. Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), the Federal Office of Public Health, Krankenversicherung: Prämien und Kostenbeteiligung / Assurance-maladie : primes et participation aux coûts (the health office's page on premiums and cost-sharing, German and French), read 20 October 2026.

The retention stops at 700 francs a year for an adult, so on the ordinary deductible an adult pays at most 1,000 francs a year towards insured bills. The premiums come on top. For a child the retention stops at 350.

„Der jährliche Höchstbetrag des Selbstbehaltes nach Artikel 64 Absatz 2 Buchstabe b KVG beläuft sich auf 700 Franken für Erwachsene und 350 Franken für Kinder.“

In English, Dooram's translation: “The yearly maximum of the retention under Article 64 paragraph 2 letter b of the act is 700 francs for adults and 350 francs for children.”

300 and 700 make 1,000; the health office gives the same sum. It leaves out the premiums, the 15 francs a day in hospital, and a higher deductible a person chooses.

Sources: Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Verordnung über die Krankenversicherung (KVV) / Ordonnance sur l'assurance-maladie (OAMal), SR 832.102 (the federal health insurance ordinance, in German and French in force on 1 August 2026), Art. 103 para. 2, read 20 October 2026. Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), the Federal Office of Public Health, Krankenversicherung: Prämien und Kostenbeteiligung / Assurance-maladie : primes et participation aux coûts (the health office's page on premiums and cost-sharing, German and French), read 20 October 2026.

Everyone living in Switzerland must be insured, undocumented people too, the health office says, and insurers may not report them. The law makes a few exceptions: diplomats and international officials, people who come only for treatment, and some people insured under another country's law.

Not obliged to insure: federal staff covered by military insurance; people staying only for medical treatment or a cure; people who, under the free movement agreement, fall under another state's law because they work there, and some others with cover from the European Union, the European Free Trade Association or the United Kingdom (Article 2). Diplomats and international officials, except private household staff, unless they ask to join (Article 6). Others, such as students for a time, may be excepted on request if they have equal cover.

Source: Fedlex (the Swiss Confederation's publication platform for federal law), Verordnung über die Krankenversicherung (KVV) / Ordonnance sur l'assurance-maladie (OAMal), SR 832.102 (the federal health insurance ordinance, in German and French in force on 1 August 2026), Arts. 2 and 6, read 20 October 2026.

Rejected asylum seekers who stay remain obliged to insure until they leave, the health office says, in its German and French pages. How many people are uninsured Dooram has not read.

Source: Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG), the Federal Office of Public Health, Krankenversicherung: Versicherungspflicht für in der Schweiz wohnhafte Versicherte / Assurance-maladie : obligation de s'assurer pour les assurés domiciliés en Suisse (the health office's page on who must be insured, German and French), read 20 October 2026.