Fitness insurance: The complete guide

Many health insurance companies want to encourage and reward their customers who take care of their health by engaging in regular physical activity. To do this, these insurance companies offer fitness insurance. What does this cover consist of? Is it partial or total coverage? Is fitness insurance automatically offered to customers of the main health insurance companies represented in Switzerland? Find out here all you need to know about supplementary fitness insurance.

Fitness insurance is a guarantee that allows the coverage of all or part of a fitness or sports membership. Indeed, many insurance companies are keen to encourage their customers to engage in regular physical activity. Some even go so far as to offer a reduction in premiums to anyone who can prove they exercise a sport of any kind.

As far as supplementary fitness insurance is concerned, coverage varies depending on the health insurance fund chosen, but also on the formula taken out. It may be a contribution of 50% or 75% of the annual cost of the subscription, or a flat rate. In all cases, companies set an annual ceiling for the cost of a fitness membership.

It should be noted that some companies require their customers to only attend approved fitness gyms (Qualitop for example) or limit their coverage to a pre-established list of classes: aerobics, gymnastics, etc.

It is therefore important to be familiar with all the conditions required before choosing a complementary health insurance. What's more, it's not a good idea to choose a complementary insurance contract based solely on fitness insurance. In fact, it's better to take into account the full range of cover offered.

Fitness insurance is not part of the basic cover offered as part of compulsory health insurance. In other words, it is imperative to subscribe to a complementary health insurance to be able to hope to benefit from fitness insurance. Indeed, as this is not a compulsory cover, insurance companies are free to offer it or not to their customers.

For those who are eligible, insurance companies impose a certain number of conditions on their customers to enable them to benefit from coverage of part of their gym or fitness club membership. For example, health insurance funds may ask their customers:

Note that some insurance companies impose a waiting period on their policyholders. In concrete terms, they have to wait a given amount of time after taking out their complementary health insurance (a few weeks or months) before they can benefit from coverage for their fitness membership. The waiting period must be specified in the general terms and conditions provided when the complementary health insurance contract is taken out.

Depending on the health insurance fund, but also on the formula one chooses, the coverage of a gym or fitness membership can vary considerably. In fact, the table below shows that insurance companies can pay from CHF 100 to CHF 2,000 per year. Some limit their intervention to a percentage of the annual cost of the subscription, without being able to exceed a sum determined in the contract.

Similarly, some companies cover part of the fitness costs regardless of the complementary insurance chosen by their customers, and others limit this cover to certain formulas.

Here's a first look at the coverage of fitness gym membership offered by the main health insurance funds available in Switzerland.

To find out which supplementary health insurance is best suited to your needs, you can use our Comparea comparator. That way, you'll be able to find the company that offers you the most relevant solution, at the best price.