Premium surpluses: Sympany policyholders get their money back
Basel, 14 October 2020 – This year, Sympany has requested a total of CHF 21.3 billion in surplus payments to its policyholders from the authorities. The approvals have now been granted, meaning Sympany can pay out the 2019 premium surpluses to its customers over the coming weeks.
Surplus payments in 13 cantons and 9 supplementary hospital insurance policies
Around 85,000 Sympany policyholders will benefit from a surplus payment in basic insurance alone. This year, 13 cantons will benefit – this is the biggest number yet. Depending on the canton, Sympany will reimburse each person between CHF 50 and CHF 460. In supplementary insurance, nine hospital insurance policies are providing a payout, with amounts of between CHF 30 and CHF 190. Sympany takes children, young people and adults into account equally. This means that a family of four will get up to CHF 1,840 from basic insurance depending on where they live and up to CHF 760 from supplementary insurance depending on the insurance product.
A symbol of fairness and the sound financial situation
The surpluses were generated because the effective costs for medical treatment in certain cantons and supplementary insurance products in 2019 were significantly lower than expected at the time the premiums were set. “We attach great importance to fairness, transparency and reliability. This is why we have been returning excessively high premium income to our customers for many years now”, explains Michael Willer, CEO of Sympany. The refunds also demonstrate that Sympany is in a very solid position. The legal provisions are strict: an insurance company may only make surplus payments if it has sufficient reserves.
Sympany is contributing to basic and supplementary policyholders’ costs for an impressive fifth time
Sympany introduced a surplus payment policy for supplementary insurance back in 2013. It also transferred this fair practice to basic insurance too as soon as the law allowed for this in 2016. This is now the fifth time that it has paid out surpluses in both basic and supplementary insurance instead of simply allocating them to its reserves. Sympany is still one of the few health insurance providers that allows its customers to participate so directly in its success.
Press release | Premium surpluses: Sympany policyholders get their money back (PDF, 66 KB) >