Geneva: in 2025, the premium will increase by 6.5%

Last year, the people of Geneva received a real blow when the increase in health premiums was announced: in the canton, the average premium had increased by 9.1%. Enough to give Geneva the prize for the highest contribution. The details of the 2025 bonuses fell this Thursday and if the blow is a little less violent this time, the increase remains significant: all age categories combined, the average bonus for 2025 amounts to 477 francs. 50. This corresponds to an increase of 6.5% compared to 2024.

In detail, the average premium for adults amounts to 572 francs, an increase of 6%, the contribution increases by +3% for young adults and +7% for children.

The amount of health premiums in 2025 will increase on average by 6% in Switzerland. Geneva is certainly less affected than certain French-speaking cantons, such as Ticino (+10.5%) or Jura (+8.9%), but it retains its title as the most expensive average premium in the country.

Regarding the new premium increases announced today, Michel Matter, doctor and president of the Association of Physicians of the Canton of Geneva (AMGe), does not hesitate to speak of “racketeering”. “A fortnight ago in your columnsVerena Nold, director of SantéSuisse, indicated until the end of July that the estimated increase for Geneva would amount to less than 4%. How can we achieve more than 6% today? There is no transparency, no control. I’m waiting for explanations. This is a total discredit for insurers who are their own gravediggers. They offer a path to the creation of a cantonal public fund in Geneva.”

City doctors good students?

This time, it is not the city doctors who must be held responsible for the increase in costs, maintains the president: “Our costs are down 3%! And since we represent 27% of total healthcare costs, this has a positive impact on premiums. We have reached a form of decline.”

He explains these good results by a multifactorial response: ambulatory shift, extended practice of smarter medicine (editor’s note: which aims to reduce excessive or inappropriate medical treatment prescriptions)control exercised by insurance companies over invoices, necessity clause which limits the number of practitioners who can set up in practice and authorized to invoice compulsory health insurance. “The doctors did their job.”

Who hasn’t done theirs then? The Geneva Health Department provides details of the bill: the cost of medicines – which represents 20% of overall health costs – increases by 4%, the inpatient hospital – 15% of costs – is at +7%. The “other” category, to which psychotherapists were transferred, represents 4% of costs, an increase of 10%. This category transfer plays a role in the reduction of community medicine, according to the Department.

Increase in hospital outpatient services

Finally, hospital outpatient services, which represent some 14% of costs, are increasing by 7%. This latest trend worries Michel Matter, who fears that it will ruin the “decline” of city practitioners and create unfair competition for them. “TarMed prices (editor’s note: to calculate the value of medical interventions and therefore the reimbursements that providers can expect) – practiced in practices are lower than those in public hospitals, because they benefit from state support. The insured is doubly harmed: he pays his premium and through his taxes the public windfall…”

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Aurélie Toninato has been a journalist in the Geneva section since 2010 and a graduate of the Academy of Journalism and Media. After covering the field of Education, she is now mainly responsible for issues related to Health.More info

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