Before you start

Registration in the commune
Address in the canton
Residence permit or registration confirmation

Step-by-step

1
Register first — the three-month clock runs from that date
Registering late shortens the window you have to choose an insurer, and the canton will assign you one if it expires.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 14 days of arrival
2
Find out which premium region your commune is in
Canton Bern has three. The Federal Department of Home Affairs ordinance on premium regions (SR 832.106) assigns every commune and sets the maximum permitted discount between regions; the Federal Office of Public Health publishes a searchable table by place name and postcode.
OnlineWho: You
3
Compare on the federal premium calculator
Basic KVG benefits are identical by law across insurers, so only price, service and model differ. Priminfo publishes every approved premium by canton, premium region and age band for the coming year.
OnlineWho: You
4
Choose your franchise and model
Adults pick an annual deductible between CHF 300 and CHF 2,500, then pay 10% of costs above it up to an annual cap. Family doctor, HMO and telemedicine models cut the premium and mainly change who you contact first.
OnlineWho: You
5
Enrol within three months of registration
Cover backdates to your arrival date and anything you paid meanwhile is reimbursed. Miss the deadline and the canton assigns an insurer and bills retroactively anyway.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 3 months of registrationCHF 465.30 / month is the 2026 national adult average, before subsidies
6
Add supplementary cover while you are healthy, or not at all
Basic insurance must accept everyone. Supplementary policies for private hospital rooms, dental and alternative medicine are underwritten and can decline you. Apply on arrival, not after a diagnosis.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Registration confirmation
Residence permit
Address in the canton
Passport

Things most newcomers don’t know

Moving across a commune boundary in Canton Bern can change your health premium as well as your tax.

Only five cantons — Bern, Graubünden, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich — are split into three premium regions, and the EDI ordinance fixes the maximum discount between them. Households compare rent between the city and Köniz, Ostermundigen or Münsingen and forget that the insurance line moves too, for every person in the household.

Source: Federal Office of Public Health — premium regions

Premiums rose again for 2026, and the adult figure is the one you pay.

The average adult monthly premium went up CHF 18.50 to CHF 465.30, young adults CHF 13.30 to CHF 326.30 and children CHF 5.70 to CHF 122.50. The headline 'average premium' of CHF 393.30 that gets quoted in coverage is the all-ages figure and is not an adult's bill.

Source: Federal Office of Public Health / priminfo — 2026 approved premiums

The identical legal product varies enormously in price, so switching insurer is rational every year.

Insurers cannot vary basic KVG benefits at all. What they vary is price, and the spread between the cheapest and most expensive approved premium in a given region is large. Switching is a form and a notice period, and most people never do it.

Source: priminfo — the mittlere Prämie explained

The Inselspital is a university hospital, which is a bigger deal than the city's size suggests.

Bern hosts one of Switzerland's five university hospitals, so specialist and emergency medicine here is well beyond what a city of 147,000 would otherwise support. Access still runs through your insurer's model — a family-doctor or HMO policy routes you via a gatekeeper first, which is fine until you assume you can self-refer.

Source: community-reported; cantonal health provision

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming your employer provides health insurance — no Swiss employer does.
Missing the three-month enrolment window and being assigned an insurer with retroactive premiums.
Comparing two addresses on rent alone without checking which of the canton's three premium regions each is in.
Quoting the all-ages average premium to yourself when you are an adult paying the adult one.
Buying a restricted-model policy and then trying to self-refer to a specialist.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.