Loss of 2000 francs Woman suddenly has to pay twice after health insurance chaos

A woman switches health insurers properly - but then suddenly everything goes wrong. Now the insurer apologizes.

She canceled her old health insurance, had her registration confirmed by the new insurer - and was suddenly insured twice. This is what happened to one woman, as reported by the SRF consumer magazine "Espresso".

Last fall, the insured woman duly took out a new policy with the health insurance company Concordia and canceled her old health insurance with Swica in due time. The change had become necessary for the woman after the premiums at Swica had risen sharply.

In February, however, she unexpectedly received a notification from Swica that her old policy would be reactivated as no confirmation had been received from the new insurer, Concordia. According to the law, an old insurance company may only accept a termination once confirmation has been received from the new insurance company.

Concordia apologizes

As a result, the customer was double-insured for four months and had to pay premiums for both Swica and Concordia, which cost her over CHF 2,000 in total.

Concordia apologized to the customer: "Mistakes were made that should not have happened. We take full responsibility for this," it told SRF.

Internal investigations revealed that an employee of the agency responsible had mistakenly entered "Helsana" instead of "Swica" in the form for the old insurer. The confirmation was therefore sent to the wrong insurance company. The customer herself had also reported the missing confirmation to the agency in February, but this report went "unnoticed for inexplicable reasons", according to Concordia.

Concordia has promised to investigate the case internally and to support the customer until she has received her money back from the compensation fund. Concordia will also pay the difference in premiums. According to the insurer, the complex case is unique.