Insurance review: which policies provide useful protection?
Singles, couples and families need different cover. A structured review reveals gaps and duplicated benefits.
Updated 30 September 2026Start with the financial consequences of a loss
A list of policies alone cannot show whether someone is well protected. Begin with events a household would struggle to pay for itself. They might include a large liability claim, a prolonged loss of earnings, the death of a supporting parent or major damage to possessions. Small losses that can comfortably be paid from savings may call for a different response. For each risk, write down who would be affected, the annual financial need and how long accessible assets could carry it. Only then examine policies and social insurance benefits. A person living alone without children normally has a different need for death cover from parents with two children and a mortgage. They may still face a serious problem if illness stops them working for a long time. A high-earning family can also be vulnerable after a parent's death despite substantial savings, because childcare and housing costs continue. Insurance is a tool for transferring defined risks, not a universal savings plan. Every contract in a review should answer a question: which specific gap does it close? If a modest loss can be funded from reserves, a higher deductible may be reasonable. If an event would threaten dependants' standard of living, it deserves attention even if it is unlikely. This order prevents an expensive collection of add-ons that do not address the household's actual exposure.
Put all existing benefits on one page
Create a table showing each insured person, risk, benefit, deductible, premium, term and cancellation deadline. Do not include private policies alone. The employer, occupational pension fund, AHV or IV, accident insurance and health insurer may already cover important parts of the risk. Ask the employer for the current pension statement and the terms of any sickness daily allowance arrangement. Check whether illness and accident trigger different amounts or waiting periods. Add private liability, contents, legal expenses, travel, life and supplementary health insurance wherever they exist. For example, a credit card includes travel cancellation, the household also has a separate travel policy and the home package offers another travel module. Whether that is unnecessary duplication depends on limits, exclusions and who is insured. Writing only 'travel insurance: yes' does not answer the question. State which costs, countries and people are actually covered. Keep current policy schedules and general conditions beside the overview. For older contracts, check the address, household members, named beneficiaries and insured amounts. The overview is also useful after a claim: family members can quickly identify whom to contact and which contractual deadlines apply. Protection that nobody can locate or activate is less helpful than its headline benefit suggests.
Separate basic from supplementary health insurance
Compulsory Swiss health insurance provides benefits for illness and maternity, and under certain circumstances accident. All insurers providing the basic scheme must cover the same statutory range of benefits, although premiums, models, service and claims handling can differ. Supplementary cover is voluntary and may pay for additional services or comfort; its contractual benefits are not automatically identical between providers. This distinction matters when changing insurers. Basic health insurance generally comes with a right to acceptance irrespective of health. Supplementary insurance can involve a health assessment under private insurance rules. FINMA advises waiting for confirmation of acceptance from the desired new supplementary insurer before cancelling the existing cover. Consider someone who finds a cheaper basic policy and also wants to change private hospital cover. They can make the two decisions separately. Cancelling the old supplementary policy before written acceptance could leave them without comparable protection. Read supplementary conditions for hospital lists, treatment types, payment caps and exclusions. A lower premium for less cover is not automatically better value. Note which optional benefits you have actually used or are likely to need. That makes price and usefulness comparable. Keep the new insurer's written answer and verify the exact dates when the old and new policies stop and start.
Include deductibles and co-payments in the budget
Adults in the basic health scheme pay a deductible in addition to premiums and then a percentage co-payment. The Federal Office of Public Health states an ordinary CHF 300 deductible and ten percent co-payment on later costs, capped at CHF 700 per calendar year; higher optional deductibles are available. Choosing a higher deductible does not change statutory benefits, but it changes how much cash you must provide when treatment is needed. Compare the annual premium plus likely personal treatment costs in several scenarios. For example, a person chooses a CHF 2,500 deductible and saves CHF 900 of premiums over the year. If they need little care, the choice might be financially attractive. With high treatment costs, they must be able to pay the deductible and co-payment. A CHF 600 cash reserve makes that a substantial liquidity risk. Compare the bad year as well as the good one. Children face different deductible and co-payment rules. Cantonal premium reductions can change the calculation for eligible households, so check the responsible office. An insurance review that places monthly premiums side by side without the possible cost share leaves out much of the decision. Show healthcare as an annual budget line, inspect last year's actual bills and include foreseeable treatment. The suitable deductible can change with health and reserves.
Check accident cover using hours at each employer
An employee working at least eight hours a week for the same employer is also insured for non-occupational accidents through that employer's accident scheme. Below this threshold, employer cover generally concerns occupational accidents and diseases; leisure accidents must be covered in another way, often through basic health insurance. Self-employed people and those without employment have different arrangements. Check actual weekly hours with each employer rather than adding all jobs together. For example, a person works six hours for one employer and six for another. Saying they work twelve hours in total does not establish leisure-accident cover through either job. Clarify the position and check whether accident cover is included in their health policy. When full employer accident cover exists, the accident component of basic health insurance can be suspended under the applicable conditions. Review the decision after changing jobs or reducing hours. The benefits and personal cost-sharing under accident and health insurance can differ, so do not compare premiums alone. When unemployed or between jobs, record the dates on which each cover starts and stops. Asking for confirmation before the old employment ends may prevent a serious gap. Keep the answer with the rest of your insurance overview.
Distinguish income loss from sickness and accident
Illness and an accident can remove the same salary but trigger different insurers and contractual rules. Use two columns to show who continues paying wages in the first weeks, whether daily allowances are available and which benefits might apply after permanent disability. Ask about waiting periods, benefit duration, insured salary and exclusions. For employees, employer arrangements and occupational pension funds may provide part of the protection, but the actual level depends on the job and fund rules. The Federal Social Insurance Office explains that IV, accident insurance and occupational pensions can pay disability benefits depending on cause and eligibility. Do not treat 80 percent of gross pay as a guaranteed benefit. You may use that percentage as a personal target, then compare it with documented entitlements. For example, a self-employed designer bills an average CHF 95,000 a year, but customers pay irregularly. If she cannot work for six months, revenue may stop while rent and business costs continue. She needs to assess cash reserves, daily allowance cover and longer-term disability protection separately. An employed father with steady wages has a different starting position but may still have a gap. The review should quantify the difference in francs per month and show how long the household could carry it.
Base death cover on people who depend on you
A life policy paying on death does not have the same urgency for every household. The key issue is who depends financially on the insured person. Estimate the annual costs that would continue after a death: housing, childcare, education, debts, healthcare and ordinary living. Subtract the survivor's own income, accessible assets and likely survivors' benefits. Swiss AHV and occupational pensions can pay benefits in particular circumstances; eligibility and amounts need individual checking. Unmarried couples should examine the rules especially carefully, because a partner is not automatically entitled to the same benefits as a spouse. For example, a couple with two school-age children is financing an apartment. If the higher earner dies, the survivor might have to work less to organise childcare, while mortgage payments continue. Derive the insured sum from the actual funding gap over the years it matters, rather than a blanket formula such as ten times salary. Check any death benefits already provided by the pension fund or pillar 3a contracts before paying for more. For someone living alone without financial dependants, high death cover may be less urgent than protecting their own earning ability or against liability claims. Revisit the analysis after a birth, separation or new mortgage.
Assess liability and home contents against real exposure
Private liability cover addresses certain claims when an insured person causes loss to somebody else. Home contents insurance may cover damage to the household's own movable possessions under its terms. They are different risks even when an insurer sells them in one package. For liability, check which household members are insured, whether damage to rented accommodation is included, and the limits and exclusions. For contents, compare the insured sum with the actual replacement cost of furniture, clothing, devices and other items. A sum that is too low can cause problems after a claim; a far higher amount may produce unnecessary premium. Imagine someone moving from a furnished room to a separate apartment and buying CHF 35,000 of furniture and equipment. Their old contents policy may no longer reflect reality. In a family, the value of possessions and insured people change after births, moves and large purchases. Keep evidence of major purchases and ask whether special valuables need separate declarations. An insurance review cannot give every household the same recommended amount. It should show which losses you can pay from reserves and which you prefer to transfer. The actual policy terms govern any entitlement after a claim. Review the amounts whenever the contents of the home change materially.
Look for overlap among smaller policies
Travel cancellation, phone insurance, extended warranties and legal expenses cover are often purchased individually without checking existing protection. For each contract, record the covered event, deductible, maximum payment, geographic scope and annual premium. Compare benefits available through a credit card, contents policy, employer or another arrangement. Two policies with similar names may have different exclusions, so the title alone does not prove duplication. For example, a family has travel cancellation through a credit card, but the card benefit applies only if the trip was paid with it. A separate travel policy may cover other travelling family members or different reasons for cancellation. Only the conditions resolve the question. Device insurance costing CHF 180 a year may be poor value against a CHF 500 loss with a CHF 150 deductible if the family could buy a replacement from reserves. For legal expenses, examine covered areas of law, waiting periods and terms on choosing a lawyer. Do not automatically cancel every small policy. Write a reasoned decision for each: keep, reduce, adjust or cancel at the correct date. This makes the next annual review faster and prevents a later adviser from mistaking a conscious choice for an oversight.
Read exclusions, waiting periods and beneficiaries
The large number on a policy's front page describes only part of the cover. Check when benefits start, which events are excluded, whether sickness and accident are treated equally and who receives any money. A CHF 200 daily allowance following a long waiting period may do little in the first weeks. A death benefit may still name a person who no longer matches the family situation. Under supplementary health cover, hospital lists and payment caps can restrict the service you expected. FINMA recommends reading general and supplementary conditions and clarifying cost approval before treatment. Apply the same care to other policies. Form a concrete question for each important risk: 'If I cannot work for twelve months because of illness, from which day would I receive how much?' or 'If I die, who receives what?' If an insurer or adviser cannot answer by reference to the contract, mark the matter as unresolved. Keep written clarification. In a cross-border family, also check whether residence or a long stay abroad changes protection. Even a good policy may be of little help if a claim notification deadline is missed. Keep key contacts and steps somewhere the family can find them.
Change or cancel cover without creating a gap
A better quote improves your position only when the new contract has actually been accepted and begins on the right date. This particularly matters for supplementary health and risk cover. FINMA advises waiting for confirmation of acceptance under a new supplementary health policy before cancelling the old one. For private policies, inspect the contract term, cancellation notice period and insurance year, which need not end on 31 December. Align old and new dates in writing. For example, a family finds a new supplementary policy starting in January but cancels the old one in September before the health assessment is finished. If acceptance is later refused or restricted, the family may be less protected. Basic health insurance has different acceptance rules, but enrolment and cancellation must still be handled properly. After changing, compare the first premium bill and new policy with the application: people insured, deductible, benefits and starting date. Keep confirmation of the old cancellation. Do not change beneficiaries or sums under life cover merely because of a verbal promise. A good insurance review ends with an implementation list and deadlines, rather than hasty cancellation letters. Check that every intended change actually took effect.
Checklist for singles, couples and families
Begin with all policies and all benefits already available from employer, pension fund and social insurance. Calculate three needs in francs per month: prolonged inability to work, death and a major property or liability loss. Identify which shortfalls you can carry yourself and which would seriously threaten the household. For singles, protecting their own earnings after illness may be central; for families, support, childcare and housing after a death are additional concerns. Compare basic and supplementary health cover separately. Include both annual premiums and possible personal cost-sharing. Check non-occupational accident cover from the hours actually worked for each employer. In private policies read waiting periods, exclusions, insured people, beneficiaries, maximum amounts and cancellation dates. Find overlap in travel, devices and legal expenses. Assign one of four decisions to each contract: keep, adjust, add or cancel. Ask for written clarification where terms are unclear. Make changes only when replacement cover is firmly confirmed. Repeat the review after a birth, marriage, separation, job change, self-employment, home purchase or major health change. The aim is understandable protection for the household's real risks at premiums it can afford. Keep the decision record so you know why each policy exists.
Recalculate protection after life changes
Insurance needs can change faster than contract terms. After a job change, accident and occupational pension benefits may differ even if pay stays the same. A birth increases childcare and education costs and the financial effect of a parent's death. Separation changes shared spending, beneficiaries and perhaps disposable income. After buying a home, include mortgage payments and maintenance in the need calculation. Someone who becomes self-employed may lose parts of the cover previously organised by an employer. For each event, prepare a short action list: update the budget, obtain pension and employer benefit details, recalculate three risks, compare old policies and check beneficiaries. Imagine a parent who does not return to their former hours after a birth and earns CHF 55,000 instead of CHF 90,000. Monthly cash flow, the pension projection and possibly salary-based risk cover all change. The family should calculate needs in this new phase rather than assuming the old insured amount remains suitable. A review need not result in new contracts. Adjusting an existing amount or consciously covering a small shortfall from reserves may be enough. Record the date, reason and figures behind each choice. Consider the financial value of unpaid care work, which salary-based cover can overlook. Schedule another review after a year in the new situation.
This information is general. Your documents, contracts and the relevant authorities determine what applies to your situation.