We've had enough of opaque comparison sites.

We just wanted to switch health insurer. So we did what everyone does: visited a comparison site, entered our details, looked at the result.

Then we made the mistake of entering our phone number.

What followed: calls. Not one, not two. Weeks of calls. Different numbers, different brokers, always the same routine. "We have a great offer for you." We told them five times to stop bothering us. It changed nothing. Today, months later, the calls still keep coming.

At some point we asked ourselves: why is that? Why can't a comparison site just compare, without pestering you afterwards?

The answer lies in the business model.

Why do the brokers call?

On 14 August 2024, the Federal Council declared the industry agreement on brokers in health insurance generally binding. Since 1 September 2024, new rules have applied:

CHF 70 per policy. That sounds like the end of the broker business. But this is where it gets interesting.

The real money is in supplementary insurance

For supplementary insurance there is also a cap, but a much higher one: up to 16 monthly premiums per policy. More on this in the article Why your adviser wants to sell you supplementary insurance.

Before the 2024 cap, some insurers added so-called "super commissions". These were bonus schemes that paid brokers 40 to 60% extra on top of the base commission if they delivered enough policies. (SRF Kassensturz investigation) Today such bonuses count towards the cap of 16 monthly premiums.

Estimates from before the cap put broker commissions in health insurance at around CHF 480 million a year. According to the FOPH, only about CHF 59 million of that relates to basic health insurance. The bulk of the rest, an estimated CHF 430 million, goes to supplementary insurance. (watson.ch, 2023) With the CHF 70 cap in place since 2024, basic insurance has become even less attractive for brokers. The money is now in supplementary cover more than ever.

That's why brokers try on every call to talk you into a complete switch. Basic and supplementary insurance together. Basic insurance is the bait.

And the cold-calling ban?

Banned since September 2024. Even so, by February 2026 358 complaints had reached FINMA and 67 the FOPH (prio.swiss, review of February 2026).

The law is in place. Enforcement is lagging behind.

That's why we deliberately don't ask for a phone number

So that we can give you all these comparisons and research without bothering you, we deliberately don't ask for your phone number. We don't pass your data on to any broker. Full stop.

You enter your postcode and year of birth. We show you the cheapest insurers. Done. No catch, no small print.

How we fund ourselves (to be honest)

At the moment we receive no commissions from health insurers. We reserve the right to do so in future via partner links, and would then say so openly here and on every page.

But you can also just use the site to inform yourself. What matters to us is having all the information condensed and easy to understand in one place. Whether you then switch or not is your decision.

Are we a broker?

No. We are currently not an insurance intermediary. We do not broker insurance and do not take commissions.

If we were to receive affiliate commissions in future, we would have to register with FINMA as an insurance intermediary. The Federal Administrative Court made this clear in July 2024 in the Comparis case (ruling B-5886/2023): comparison sites that receive commissions also count as intermediaries and must register. Comparis had previously outsourced the brokering to a subsidiary, and the court did not accept this.

We will say so openly when the time comes. For us, transparency is not a marketing slogan.

How we compare

Our data comes directly from the FOPH (Federal Office of Public Health). Exactly the same source used by the official premium comparison tool priminfo.admin.ch. The raw data is publicly available on opendata.swiss.

We show you exactly the same premiums that the FOPH has approved. No insurer can be "ranked higher" with us because it pays more. There is no ranking to buy. The order is always: cheapest first.

What we prepare for you

We have processed the more than 200'000 records to make them as user-friendly and easy to understand as possible:

• Price comparison by postcode: each postcode has its own premium regions. We automatically match your postcode to the right region.
• All models compared: standard, HMO, family doctor, Telmed. Everything at a glance, with filters.
• Premium insights: we analyse over several years which insurers are consistently cheap and which work with price spikes.
• No registration: you don't need an account. No email. No phone number.

Basic health insurance is identical at every insurer

This is the most important fact that many people don't know: the benefits of basic health insurance are set by law (Health Insurance Act, KVG Art. 25-31). Every insurer must cover exactly the same treatments, medicines and hospitals. Whether CSS, Helsana or Assura.

The only difference is the price. And customer service. That's why comparing pays off so much: you get the same cover for less money.

Who we are

We are a small Swiss team that had had enough of opaque comparison sites ourselves. abovergleich.com grew out of our own frustration, not out of a business plan.

Our goal: to help you find the best product for you. Not to sell you something. The data is public, our method is open, and you stay in control.

Sources:
FOPH: industry agreement on brokers (generally binding since 01/09/2024) · FINMA press release of 21/11/2024 (cold-calling ban) · Federal Administrative Court ruling B-5886/2023 (Comparis as an intermediary, 05/07/2024) · watson.ch (CHF 480 million in commissions, 2023) · Federal Council, 14/08/2024 (industry agreement declared generally binding) · opendata.swiss premium data · KVG Art. 25-31 (catalogue of benefits) · All information without guarantee.