Merger of Avanex with Helsana and Sansan with Progrès

Risk compensation has been refined as of 2017: a new medication cost threshold has been introduced. This will result in an additional burden for insurance companies, such as Avanex and Sansan, with groups that have above-average good health. In addition, lawmakers now require annual cost-covering premiums at cantonal level. This increases premium fluctuations in cantons with small groups of policyholders (such as those of Sansan and Avanex). Overall, these changes would have led to significant premium increases.

We reacted to this with the merger of Avanex with Helsana and Sansan with Progrès as of 1 January 2017. As a result, premiums for Avanex customers (now Helsana customers) and Sansan customers (now Progrès customers) have increased less sharply. In addition, premium fluctuations in future will be somewhat lower in the now even larger Helsana and Progrès collectives.

Except for the premium, nothing has changed for Avanex and Sansan basic insurance policyholders. They will now simply be insured by fundamentally sound basic insurance companies Helsana and Progrès, respectively. They will benefit from the mergers, since a larger pool of policyholders promises more stable premium development.