What is flex hospital insurance?
With flexible supplemental hospital insurance, you decide which ward you want to be in for each stay. Comparis provides you with the most important information.
14.10.2026
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1. What is flexible supplemental hospital insurance?
Flex insurance is a variant of the supplemental hospital insurance. Depending on the health insurer, it is also called flex health insurance or the health insurance flex model.
With flex insurance, you can choose the ward before being admitted to hospital. Depending on your needs and financial situation, you can then choose between the general, semi-private and private ward.
2. Supplemental hospital insurance Flex: what are the benefits?
The benefits may differ depending on the supplemental insurance. In principle, however, health insurers do cover some of the costs of an upgrade to a higher ward. Other benefits are often also included, for example:
Free choice of hospital throughout Switzerland. May be limited to listed and contractual hospitals.
Cover abroad, which goes beyond basic insurance
Free choice of doctor in the semi-private and private wards
Rooming-in for inpatient births and for children
Contributions to spa and convalescent therapies
Important: In some cases, benefits are only provided in hospitals recognised by the insurance company or by recognised doctors.
Compare benefits and find the right Flex insurance
The monthly premiums for Flex insurance sometimes start at under 10 francs but can also exceed 100 francs – this depends, among other things, on gender, age and place of residence.
The benefits vary sometimes greatly. Compare them, so it’s best to compare different deals. This way you’ll find the right insurance.
3. How much will I pay with which Flex health insurance model?
For medical treatment in the general ward in the canton of residence the basic insurance covers the costs. If you are treated in the general ward in a hospital outside your canton of residence flex insurance usually covers all costs that are not covered by basic insurance.
Good to know: With some flex insurance policies, you get a bonus if you are treated in a general ward.
Choose the upgrade to the semi-private or private ward, you will have to pay a coinsurance pay. This means that you pay part of the costs for the upgrade yourself, up to a specified amount.
How much you have to pay, varies depending on the supplemental insurance. In the following table, you’ll find information on the amount of the coinsurance from different providers (list not exhaustive):
| health insurer | Product | Coinsurance per calendar year: Semi-private | Coinsurance per calendar year: Private |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assura | Optima Flex Varia | CHF 100 per day (max. 15 days), max. CHF 4,5001 | CHF 300 per day (max. 15 days), max. CHF 4,5001 |
| Atupri | Spital Opti |
|
|
| Concordia | Libero | 20%, max. CHF 2,000 | 35%, max. CHF 4,000 |
| CSS | myFlex |
|
|
| Groupe Mutuel | H-Bonus | CHF 100 per day, max. 30 days | CHF 200 per day, max. 20 days |
| Helsana | Hospital Flex |
|
|
| KPT | Flexible supplemental hospital insurance |
|
|
| ÖKK | Hospital Flex |
|
25%, max. CHF 4,500 |
| Sanitas | Hospital Standard Liberty | 25%, max. CHF 10,000 | 50%, max. CHF 20,000 |
| Swica | Hospita Flex | CHF 300 per day, max. CHF 6,000 | CHF 400 per day, max. CHF 8,000 |
| Sympany | Hospita Flex | 15%, max. CHF 1,500 | 25%, max. CHF 4,500 |
| Visana | Spital Flex |
|
|
1 The maximum coinsurance
2 depending on the chosen level of insurance
Last updated: October 2026
4. Family ceiling for Flex insurance
Some insurers grant a family discount if all family members are insured with the same health insurer under the Flex model. As a result, the maximum out-of-pocket expenses for all family members in the same household are limited to a fixed amount. Ask your health insurer whether they offer such a discount.
Example: Your family has Flex insurance with a maximum out-of-pocket expense for a private ward of 2,000 francs. You pay an out-of-pocket expense of 1,200 francs for your child’s treatment in a private ward. In the same year, your share of an upgrade to a private ward would be 1,800 francs.
However, as a family, you only pay 800 francs for the second treatment instead of the full 1,800 francs. This is because, after the 800 francs, you have already reached the maximum out-of-pocket expenses of 2,000 francs for the family.
5. Flex insurance: Advantages
The biggest advantages of Flex insurance are flexibility and cost control. Depending on your financial and medical situation, you can choose between different wards.
If you don’t want or need private care, you can save on costs. This is because the premiums for flex insurance are usually cheaper than the premiums for semi-private or private hospital insurance.
6. Flex insurance: disadvantages
A disadvantage of flex insurance is the high out-of-pocket expenses for treatment in a semi-private or private ward. There is also not always the same free choice of hospital and doctor as with semi-private or private insurance.
7. FAQs on flex insurance
A conventional supplemental hospital insurance covers, depending on the insurer, treatment in a semi-private or private ward .
With the flex insurance you can decide before each hospital stay, in which ward (general, semi-private or private) you want to be treated.
Whether it is possible to switch from existing supplemental insurance to flex insurance possible depends on the conditions of your health insurer . It may be necessary to undergo a health check . This may be required. Find out more from your health insurer.
The notice periods for termination for Flex insurance policies are based on the conditions of the respective health insurer. As a rule, the notice period is three months until the end of the year. This means that your notice of termination must reach the health insurer on the last working day of September.
As a rule, insurance policies have a minimum term. This varies depending on the supplemental insurance. However, you can terminate the contract after three years at the latest.
Find out about the minimum term before taking out a policy.
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This article was first published on 10.10.2024
