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Am I entitled to a premium subsidy for my health insurance?
Probably more often than you think. The premium subsidy is cantonal help that brings your premium down, worked out from your income — and the thresholds go fairly high, especially with children.
But if you have just arrived in Switzerland, it will not come on its own. The canton awards the subsidy from your tax assessment of two years ago. You do not have one. So you have to ask for it yourself.
In the canton of Vaud, the principle is that your premium should not go above around 10% of your determining income. A Vaud couple with two children and an income of 62,000 francs can receive close to 9,700 francs of help over the year.
The lag in the calculation
The 2027 subsidy is based on your income for 2025.
What it costs to apply
Applying is free, and a refusal has no consequences.
How the subsidy is worked out
The canton does not look at your gross salary but at your determining income: a reworked income figure, to which it applies flat-rate deductions, notably for dependent children. That is why households who think they are "too comfortable" turn out to be entitled.
Determining income = taxable income − flat-rate deductions
The canton then compares that figure with its own scale, and pays the difference between your reference premium and what you are supposed to be able to afford.
The subsidy does not land in your account: it is paid straight to your health insurer, which deducts it from your bills. You only pay the balance.
It is worked out from a cantonal reference premium, not from yours. If you have chosen a health insurer that costs more than that reference, the difference is entirely yours to pay. So comparing health insurers is still worth doing, even with a subsidy.
Automatic or on request, depending on your canton
| Canton | How it works | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Genève | Automatic in principle, from the unified determining income | You have to apply if you arrived recently, are taxed at source, are a young adult, or have no tax assessment |
| Vaud | Awarded by the canton itself, decisions sent out in early November | The premium is brought down to around 10% of determining income |
| Fribourg | On an official form | Filing deadline of 31 August |
| Neuchâtel | Reply slip sent out by the canton | To be sent back within 30 days |
| Valais | Largely automatic | A special request after a marriage, a birth, retirement or the end of unemployment |
| Jura | Its own cantonal scale | Adult premiums go up by 6.6% in 2027, which widens the need for help |
Each canton sets its own scale, its own thresholds and its own calendar. Moving from one canton to another changes both the office in charge and the amount.
Automatic awards rest on your tax file. A new arrival does not have one: they do not exist in the canton's database yet. The result is that nobody writes to them, and they conclude they are not entitled.
The same goes if you are taxed at source on a B permit: your income does not show up in an ordinary tax assessment. The request has to come from you.
The events that change everything
Because the calculation is based on an income two years old, it cannot see what has just happened. In these cases, tell the canton about your current situation rather than waiting:
- losing your job or going onto unemployment benefit;
- cutting back your working hours;
- a birth, a marriage, a separation;
- retiring;
- arriving in the canton, from abroad or from another canton.
How to apply
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Find the office for your canton
Depending on the canton it is called the service de l'assurance maladie, the office vaudois de l'assurance maladie, or the caisse de compensation. Your commune will tell you which one.
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Gather the proof of your current situation
Your employment contract and recent payslips, a certificate from your health insurer, the make-up of your household. If your income has dropped, include the proof: that is what lets the canton set aside the figures from two years ago.
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File before the end of the current year
Deadlines vary, but the general rule is that the subsidy starts the month after you apply, with no backdating over the whole year. Applying early means getting more.
Apply even if you think you earn too much. Applying is free, a refusal has no consequences, and the cantonal scales are a good deal higher than their reputation — in particular as soon as there are children, or a single income in the household.
And apply again every time your situation changes: a subsidy refused one year can be granted the next.
The three most common mistakes
- Waiting for a letter from the canton. A new arrival is not in the tax file: they will never receive anything, as long as they have not applied.
- Giving up because you "earn too much". The calculation is on determining income, after deductions, not on your gross salary.
- Filing in December. The subsidy generally runs from the month after you apply: eleven months lost for a few minutes of delay.
Your canton, your income, your family: are you entitled to a premium subsidy?
Heidi applies your canton's scale to your situation.
Read next
- Retirement as a cross-border worker: AVS, the second pillar and the second right to choose
- Family allowances for cross-border workers: Switzerland or France?
- What happens to my second pillar when I leave my Swiss job?
- Unemployment as a cross-border worker: where to register, who pays and how much?
- G permit: conditions, going home and changing employer
- Quasi-resident status: who can apply, and by when?
- Who gets my taxes as a cross-border worker: France or Switzerland?
- How much do you take home in Switzerland as a cross-border worker?
- How many days of remote work can I do without losing my cross-border worker status?
- Do I have to file a tax return in my first year in Switzerland?
- Which deductible should I choose for my Swiss health insurance?
- What does LAMal cover, and what does it not cover?
- What does a month of living in Switzerland really cost?
Sources
- République et canton de Genève — Applying for a 2027 health insurance premium subsidy
- Health insurance premium subsidies in French-speaking Switzerland: calculation, cantons and deadlines
- Average cantonal premiums for 2027, based on OFSP figures
Written by the Heidi team and updated on 7 November 2026. The scales, the thresholds and the deadlines are set by each canton and change every year. Only the cantonal office decides whether a subsidy is granted, and how much.