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Health insurance cold callers banned in Switzerland

Health insurance companies are no longer allowed to make unwanted calls to potential customers.

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The Swiss government passed an ordinance to this effect on Wednesday. The new regulation already applies to the next health insurance change period, which comes into force on September 1.

This means that contacting a person who has never been insured with the insurer or has not been insured for more than three years is now prohibited. The regulation applies to all insurance companies.

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With the Ordinance on the Regulation of Insurance Intermediary Activities adopted on Wednesday, the government declares an existing industry solution to be generally binding. Previously, the industry agreement was only binding for insurers that had signed up to it.

In addition, intermediaries are now obliged to draw up a protocol during a consultation and have it signed by the customer. Also, the compensation paid to intermediaries is limited to CHF70 ($81) per insured person.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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