With the cost of health insurance in Switzerland having risen significantly for three years in a row, many will be anxious to know whether premiums will rise again. Now, new data from the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has given us our first sign as to whether costs will increase further:
Based on the new FOPH data, the cost of basic health insurance is almost certain to rise once again when premiums are renewed for 2026. Though we won’t know the extent of the rise until September, when the revised premiums are announced, the figures suggest that it will be a sizeable increase.
This is because the cost of healthcare has increased by 4,9 percent between March 2024 and March 2025. This means that on average, insurance providers are spending 4.754 francs per person a year on health-related costs, a 223-franc increase compared to 2024. In some regions like Ticino and Geneva, this figure is now over 5.700 francs a year.
The most significant increases were attributed to rising costs in the home care and laboratory sectors. Representatives from these industries, notably the Medical Association of Medical Professions and Spitex, told 20 Minuten that the higher costs can be blamed on an ageing population and rising salaries in the care sector.
Between March 2024 and 2025, healthcare costs have risen the most in Zug (7,5 percent), Lucerne (7 percent), Fribourg (6,8 percent) and St. Gallen (6,4 percent). Fees rose more slowly in Vaud (4,9 percent), Zurich (4,7 percent) and Bern (4,1 percent), while Schaffhausen (1,9 percent), Neuchâtel (2,8 percent) and Geneva (2,9 percent) saw costs rise the least.
Speaking to 20 Minuten, Saskia Schenker, the director of health insurance association Prio.Swiss, called the new figures “worrying, because it is not sustainable in the long term". She said the rising costs call the current system of funding into question, as healthcare “must ultimately be covered by premiums”. She added that insurers are doing all they can to cut costs while maintaining quality, and called on the government to do more to regulate healthcare.
Though the Swiss government has managed to get healthcare and insurance providers to promise to cap costs at roundtable discussions which began in November 2024, there are signs that the Federal Council are running out of ideas.
On May 15, Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (SP) opened an electronic mailbox, where members of the public can submit their ideas on how to cut healthcare costs. These ideas can be submitted until June 20.
The best ideas will then be debated as part of the latest round of roundtable talks between the government and the healthcare sector. In all, the Federal Council hopes to save 300 million francs on healthcare costs each year from 2026.