Health insurance and age categories: will your premiums get more expensive?
Health insurance premiums for basic insurance vary depending on the policyholder’s age. Supplemental insurance uses different tariff systems. Comparis explains what you need to know.
20.07.2022
iStock/Charday Penn
1. What age categories are there in basic health insurance?
According to the Health Insurance Act (Art. 61), there are three age categories:
Babies, children and young people: all health insurance companies are legally required to offer lower premiums to children and young people up to 18 years of age.
Young adults: health insurance companies may offer reduced premiums to young adults, but they do not have to. This applies to young adults between the ages of 19 and 25.
Adults: health insurance for adults gets more expensive after the age of 25. There is no more premium discount from the age of 26.
The benefits provided by health insurance companies are regulated by law and are the same with all insurance companies. Premiums however, vary from insurer to insurer. It’s therefore worth comparing.
2. When does my age category change?
Policyholders move into the next basic insurance age category on 1 January in the year following their 18th or 25th birthday.
3. What age categories does supplemental insurance cover?
When it comes to supplemental insurance, there is often a distinction between current age and admission age. Health insurance companies set the categories themselves. There are no set age categories like with basic insurance. These two systems may also appear in a mixed form, where the current age tariff is used up to a certain age and then the admission age tariff is applied.
Current age tariff
Current age tariff premiums depend on age and, therefore, on risk. Younger, healthy policyholders benefit from relatively cheap premiums. The premiums then rise with age.
Admission age tariff
With this premium model, the insurance period is taken into consideration from the age of admission. The age risk (the risk of rising costs with increasing age) is distributed throughout the entire expected insurance period. At a young age, this leads to higher premiums than with the current age tariff. As a result of this, future premiums will only rise moderately in line with cost developments in the healthcare system and the risk structure of the health insurance company.
