Concordia with cheapest premiums, CSS more expensive

After the “premium hammer” is before the premium shock. After health insurance premiums rose by 5.2 percent and 8.7 percent in previous years, the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) has now announced an average increase of 6 percent for 2025.

The development is likely to result in those insured taking a particularly close look at the conditions of their basic health insurance companies – they can change until November 30th.

High change rate expected to continue

In a new health insurance study, the consulting firm Deloitte expects a high switching rate of 8 to 12 percent of insured people. This would correspond to 700,000 to 1.1 million switchers. This year, more than 12 percent of those insured had already chosen a new fund and a further 18 percent had changed their insurance model or franchise.

“The many changes show that those insured have become very price-sensitive,” says Bern health economist Heinz Locher. The switching rate always depends on the extent of the premium increases. This ultimately creates a market in which there is a lot of volatility and unrest and in which it is difficult to pursue a consistent business policy. He is surprised that even large health insurance companies cannot manage this. Another problem is that there are too many health insurance companies in Switzerland.

It is currently too early to provide information on changes by insured persons, as the deadline for switching is still a few weeks away. The information on the development of premiums at the twelve largest health insurance companies in Switzerland already allows some conclusions to be drawn about where insured people can save – and which of the health insurance companies are likely to be the winners and which are the losers in this round of premiums.

Possible winners and losers of the bonus round

Concordia represented in the top 3 18 times: According to Deloitte’s evaluation, Concordia continues to have the cheapest premiums in Switzerland on average and weighted by population: The Lucerne health insurance company has an average premium ranking of 4.7, putting it at the top of the twelve largest health insurance companies.

Concordia is also one of the three cheapest providers in 18 of the 42 Swiss premium regions. If a fund is in one of the top three places in a region, there is a high probability that it will gain additional insured people there. Concordia strives for constant, even as possible customer growth, says spokeswoman Astrid Brändlin. In the last round of premiums, Concordia recorded net growth of around 70,000 insured people.

“Concordia has once again improved slightly compared to the previous year, when it already had a very good premium situation,” says Marcel Thom, head of health insurance at Deloitte Switzerland. This applies in particular to the premiums in Bern, Lucerne, Vaud and Valais. Concordia also does well in comparison with its solvency ratio with a value of 174 percent.

Several health insurance companies have worrying values ​​of less than 100 percent – the twelve largest include Assura, Groupe Mutuel and CSS. A low solvency ratio indicates that a health insurance company may have exhausted its scope too much with premiums that do not cover costs. “The reserves of many health insurance companies are increasingly being used up,” says Thom.

Helsana has greatly improved its position: Helsana is an industry leader among Swiss health insurance companies, but lost 84,000 customers in basic insurance in the 2023 premium round. This was due to the higher premiums with which the health insurance company wanted to ensure long-term good solvency, as its boss Roman Sonderegger said at the time.

According to the Deloitte study, Helsana now has very good premium positions for 2025 and has an average rank of 5.5 across Switzerland – the second best value after Concordia. In almost 60 percent of all regions, the health insurance company is in second to fifth place. The very good positions in the cantons of Bern, Basel, St. Gallen and Vaud should be highlighted. The financial stability of the fund is also good, with a solvency ratio of 119 percent.

“Helsana anticipated the strong premium premiums that many health insurance companies are now making two years ago,” says head of communications Can Arikan, adding that “the forecast at the time is now coming true and other insurers will have to follow suit later.”

Sanitas, Atupri, ÖKK and Sympany with improvements: “Alongside Concordia and Helsana, Sanitas is likely to have the best starting position for autumn business,” says Thom. The health insurance premiums are in places two to five in almost 50 percent of the regions.

In addition, the providers Atupri, ÖKK and Sympany are well positioned according to the study. Atupri can be found in the top 3 in eleven premium regions. The fund is strongly positioned in the cantons of Glarus, Schwyz and Uri. ÖKK made it into the three providers with the cheapest premiums in twelve premium regions. The box office is particularly strong in the Graubünden home market, in Baselland, Bern and Schaffhausen. The Sympany health insurance company even achieved a place in the top three in 17 premium regions. According to the study, it is particularly strongly positioned in the cantons of Lucerne, Jura, Nidwalden, Uri and Basel-Stadt.

CSS: Industry leader facing relegation? What is noticeable in the evaluation is the poorer premium positioning of the industry top dog CSS. “There has been a significant deterioration in the premium ranking in almost all regions,” says Thom. The Lucerne health insurance company has not achieved a top 5 position in any premium region and is positioned worse than tenth in 80 percent of the regions.

CSS’s low solvency ratio has attracted criticism; this year it is only 84 percent. According to Thom, this could lead to a “perfect storm” and a challenging autumn business is likely to lie ahead. “CSS is a force in the health insurance market and has very strong distribution,” says Thom. However, the health insurance company has reduced a lot of reserves and there have also been many personnel changes. He assumes that CSS will remain number one in terms of the number of customers in basic insurance even after this round of premiums. “But the lead is likely to melt.”

CSS’s premiums reflected the incurred and expected service costs, the current premium level and the reduction in reserves from previous years – and thus also the solvency situation, says CSS spokeswoman Sabine Betschart. “It’s safe to say that service costs have increased a little more than we had anticipated,” she continues.

“In this context, in retrospect we would have carried out the reduction in our reserves expected by the Federal Office in recent years a little less quickly.” In order to increase solvency again, there will be a one-off, above-average premium increase this year. 2025 should be seen as a “catch-up year”. “We are thus laying the foundation for consistently continuing our policy of below-average premiums in the coming years.”

More difficult situation at Groupe Mutuel: The situation at Groupe Mutuel has also become more difficult. According to the study, the position in terms of rewards is weak and customer satisfaction is also low. In more than three quarters of the premium regions there were deteriorations in ranking, including in regions with high market shares such as Fribourg, Geneva and Vaud. In most premium regions, Groupe Mutuel is now in the lower midfield.

The solvency ratio also leaves a lot to be desired at 85 percent. “Since smaller funds have a higher volatility in terms of solvency, Supra will merge with Mutuel and Easy Sana with Avenir on January 1, 2025,” says spokeswoman Lisa Flückiger. With this and the calculations of the premiums for 2024 and 2025, Groupe Mutuel expects a return to a solvency ratio of over 100 percent.

KPT: the end of the “Miracle of Bern”? The Bern health insurance company KPT won around 180,000 basic insurance customers with low premiums in 2023 and, despite all the prophecies of doom, was not “passed through” in the following year. In the industry, this development was jokingly referred to as “the miracle of Bern”. But that could be over now. Heading into 2025, KPT’s premium position has deteriorated in over 65 percent of regions. This also applies to Bern and Valais, where KPT has high market shares, according to the study. KPT is now in the middle of the field with its premiums. The solvency ratio is just over 100 percent.

Slightly higher solvency ratio at Assura: Assura also continues to have a below-average solvency ratio, which is 88 percent this year. Compared to the previous year, there was at least an improvement of 15 percentage points. The fund has improved its market position in some key regions, although not across the board, says Thom, who sees Assura “on the path to stabilization”. According to the study, Assura has achieved a good premium position in Vaud, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura and Ticino. In addition, there is first place in premiums in the city of Zurich.

Swica and Visana in midfield: When it comes to premiums, the two providers Swica and Visana are in the middle of the field. According to the study, Swica is offering significantly more attractive premiums again after the difficult previous year. The health insurance company also has the highest customer satisfaction and loyalty in the market.

According to the consultant, Visana, with its strong sales, high customer satisfaction and financial stability, should also be well positioned to leverage its rewards ranking. The fund is well positioned in its home market of Bern and has improved in 29 premium regions compared to the previous year.