The three real risks
Medical treatment abroad (the expensive one – US hospital days can dwarf Swiss tariffs), trip cancellation, and repatriation. Baggage cover is mostly redundant with household contents insurance.
Check before you buy
Read your supplementary health policy (many include worldwide emergency top-up), your credit card conditions (annual travel cancellation cover is common on mid-tier cards), and household insurance (baggage). The gap that usually remains: medical cover for North America and repatriation – an annual travel policy of CHF 100–200 closes it.
Insurance is a budget line
List all policies with premiums and what they cover once a year – double coverage is the most common Swiss insurance leak.
Track these costs in your own budget: create your free Swiss budget in BudgetHub – in English, with Swiss categories built in.
What your existing cover already includes
Basic health insurance covers emergency treatment abroad only up to twice what the same treatment would cost in Switzerland – adequate in neighbouring countries, badly insufficient in high-cost destinations such as the United States.
Many household or liability policies include limited travel components, and several credit cards include cancellation or medical cover when the trip was paid with that card. Checking these before buying anything prevents paying twice for the same protection.
Repatriation is the item worth confirming specifically: it is the single largest potential cost, frequently excluded from basic cover, and covered by the Swiss Air Rescue membership that many households already hold without remembering.
Annual policy or per-trip
An annual policy pays from roughly the second or third trip a year and removes the decision each time. Per-trip cover suits infrequent travellers and lets you match the sum insured to the actual trip cost.
Cancellation cover reimburses prepaid costs when a defined reason prevents travel – illness, accident, certain family events. It pays for itself on a single cancelled family holiday and does nothing at all for cheap, flexible bookings.
Read the exclusion list rather than the benefit list: pre-existing conditions, certain sports, travel against official advice and alcohol-related incidents are where claims are actually declined.
What to do when something happens
Contact the insurer's emergency number before treatment where the situation allows. Many policies require prior authorisation for anything beyond immediate emergency care, and failing to call is a common reason for reduced reimbursement.
Keep every document: original invoices, medical reports, police reports for theft. Reimbursement without documentation is generally not possible, and reconstructing it after returning is considerably harder.
Submit within the deadline stated in the policy – typically weeks rather than months. Late submission is the most avoidable reason a valid claim fails.