Swiss Health Insurance Premiums 2027: What's Coming

Late September is when it happens every year: the Federal Office of Public Health announces the average health insurance premium for the coming year, and experts are already fairly confident how it will turn out. Comparison service Comparis forecasts a 3.7% increase for 2027, which would push the average adult premium from CHF 393.30 to around CHF 407.85 a month. After the brutal jumps of the last few years, that almost sounds like good news. It only partly is.

For you, it mainly means one thing: you have until 30 November to switch health insurers if the new premium doesn't work for you, and after that the window is closed for a full year. Here's what the 2027 premium increase means for you, why it's happening, and exactly what to do before the end of November instead of just grumbling about it.

What 2027 actually looks like

The official figure only lands in late September, when the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) announces the actual average premium for 2027. Comparis's forecast is already based on the tariffs insurers have submitted, which makes it a fairly reliable early read. It points to an average increase of 3.7%.

Some context helps:

The trend is clear: the premium shocks of recent years are easing off. That doesn't mean the problem is solved, a falling premium isn't realistically on the table for anyone, just slower growth.

Important: 3.7% is an average across every insurer, canton, and age group. It varies a lot by region. Cantons like Basel-Stadt, Geneva, or Ticino traditionally sit well above the average, while Appenzell Innerrhoden or Uri are among the cheapest. If you live in an expensive canton, your personal increase for 2027 could land noticeably above the forecast 3.7%. You'll only see the number that actually applies to you on the premium letter insurers send out in October.

Why premiums are climbing again

The obvious suspicion, that healthcare costs are simply spiralling out of control, is too simple according to experts. The bigger driver for 2027 is the expanded benefit catalogue of basic insurance (Grundversicherung): insurers now cover more of the cost of psychological psychotherapy, certain weight-loss medications, and compensation for family caregivers, a Federal Council decision that's being rolled out in stages.

These benefits didn't come out of nowhere. They're politically intended, because they close real gaps, but that also costs real money. According to the BAG, the steepest cost increases have come from Spitex home-care organisations, up 13% to CHF 173 per insured person per year, and from psychotherapy, up around 10% to CHF 86 per person. On top of that sits a structural driver that plays a role every single year: an aging population, medical progress, and the shift from inpatient to outpatient treatment push healthcare costs up over the long run, independent of any single new benefit.

None of this changes basic insurance itself. It's set out in the Health Insurance Act (KVG) and identical at every insurer: same benefits, same deductible tiers, same rules. The only thing you can influence is which insurer and which model you buy those benefits through.

The deadline that matters: 30 November

The ordinary cancellation deadline for basic insurance works the same way every year: your written cancellation must arrive at your current insurer by 30 November at the latest. What counts is the arrival date, not the postmark. If 30 November falls on a weekend, some insurers require it to arrive by the Friday before. Send your letter at least five business days ahead, ideally by registered mail, so you can prove it arrived if you ever need to.

Miss this deadline and you're stuck with your current insurer and model for all of 2027, even if you find a cheaper option on 2 December. The next chance to switch is 1 January 2028.

In practice: once your premium letter arrives in October, you realistically have four to six weeks to compare and act. Put a reminder in your calendar for mid-November right now, otherwise this is the kind of thing that gets pushed back until it's too late.

Important if you carry supplementary insurance: the 30 November deadline only applies to mandatory basic insurance. Supplementary plans, like hospital or dental coverage, run on separate contracts with their own, often longer, notice periods, which are stated in your policy. Cancel only your basic insurance and the supplementary plan simply continues. Cancel both together by mistake and you could lose cover you actually wanted to keep. Check your policy carefully before you send anything.

Your trump card at a premium increase: the extraordinary right to terminate

Here's what many people don't know: if you're insured under a savings model like family doctor, HMO, or telmed, or you've chosen a high voluntary deductible, you're normally locked in for a minimum term and can only switch as of 30 June. That doesn't apply when your premium goes up. The law then gives you an extraordinary right to terminate, letting you cancel anyway as of 31 December, with the same 30 November arrival deadline as everyone else.

In other words: a premium increase is always a free pass to switch insurers, no matter which model you're in or how long you thought you were locked in for. The only condition is that your own premium actually goes up, which will be true for almost everyone in 2027.

Use this right deliberately. Anyone who picked a savings model years ago and hasn't compared since is often sitting on unnecessarily high costs, simply because they assume they're stuck.

Switching pays off: insurer, model, and deductible compared

Premiums for identical coverage can differ by 40% or more between the cheapest and most expensive insurer in the same canton. Switching insurer is usually the single most powerful lever. Two other dials matter too:

• Insurance model: the standard model with free choice of doctor costs the most. Family doctor, HMO, telmed, or pharmacy models are cheaper because you contact a designated first point of contact instead of going straight to a specialist. Depending on insurer and canton, that saves 15 to 25%.
• Deductible: the mandatory base deductible is CHF 300, and you can voluntarily raise it to CHF 2,500. If you're rarely sick, your premium drops noticeably with every higher tier, but you pay more yourself if you do get sick.

A worked example makes this concrete: a 35-year-old in the city of Zurich on the standard model with a CHF 300 deductible pays around CHF 430 a month in 2026. Switching to a telmed model and raising the deductible to CHF 1,500 often brings the premium down to CHF 280–300, a saving of close to CHF 1,500 a year. In exchange, they carry up to CHF 1,200 more risk themselves if they get sick, so the math only works out if they genuinely rarely need a doctor.

For a detailed walkthrough of every lever, see Lower Your Health Insurance Premiums: 5 Levers for 2026. The mechanics are identical for 2027, only the numbers have changed.

Premium subsidies: the lever most people overlook

For many households, the biggest lever isn't switching insurer at all, it's the individual premium subsidy (IPV) paid by your canton, and it's also the one most often overlooked. If you live on a modest income, you're entitled to it. What counts is your taxable income, your assets, and your household size, but the exact income thresholds are set by each canton and vary widely: from around CHF 55,000 for a single person in some cantons to over CHF 100,000 for families in others.

In some cantons, like Zurich, the subsidy is triggered automatically if you qualify. In most others, you need to actively apply, usually by the end of March of the following year, through your cantonal social insurance office. Depending on canton and income, the subsidy can be worth several hundred to well over a thousand francs a year, often considerably more for families with several children. If you're just above the income threshold, or haven't checked in years, you could be leaving real money on the table. A ten-minute look at your cantonal social insurance office's website is worth it for practically any household with a middle or lower income, once a year.

Practical tip: your timeline through the end of November

Don't wait for the premium letter, compare now using the known forecast numbers. A realistic timeline: in early October, once the BAG has confirmed the official figures, compare on Priminfo, the federal government's official premium calculator, or a commercial portal like Comparis. By mid-November, make your decision and send your cancellation by registered mail to your current insurer. At the same time, sign up with the new insurer, they'll often help with the cancellation formalities, but a legally valid switch only happens once your own cancellation arrives on time.

Bottom line

3.7% more is better than the 8.7% of 2024. It's still not a relief, especially for households already budgeting tightly. The good news: you're not simply at the mercy of the increase. Between switching insurer, choosing a model, adjusting your deductible, and claiming a premium subsidy, you have more levers than the annual premium letter suggests. Use your extraordinary right to terminate, compare before 30 November, and don't let procrastination make the decision for you.