Visana Combi Care at a glance
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Combined basic insurance model under which you are required to consult your general practitioner or Medi24
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Round-the-clock phone advice from Medi24
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Treatment coordinated by your general practitioner or Medi24
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Includes health legal protection insurance
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Attractive premiums: significant potential for savings
If you opt for Combi Care, you are helping to keep health costs under control. As a result, you benefit from lower premiums. But we can only give you lower premiums if you follow a few rules. You can find details here.
Combi Care discounts
The Combi Care combined model saves you money on your insurance premium. Here are some of the ways you could save:
Depending on the insurance model you choose, children get a discount of at least 74% on the adult basic insurance premium, rising to 90% from the third child.
If you choose to pay your premium every six months, you will get a discount of 1%. This rises to 2% if you pay annually.
Is Visana Combi Care right for you?
This combination basic insurance model is suitable for you if you:
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want all the advantages of both models: general practitioner and telemedicine.
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already have a regular general practitioner, but still want access to medical advice round the clock.
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work and want to save the time taken up by a doctor’s appointment.
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are on the move a lot and can describe health issues by phone.
How Visana Combi Care works
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When you sign your Combi Care contract, you specify a general practitioner of your choice who is also recognised by Visana.
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Contact your general practitioner if you need medical help. Alternatively, you can get free, expert medical advice from Medi24 – 24 hours a day by phone or using the Well app.
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You must always notify Medi24 by phone or using the Well app when your general practitioner refers you to a specialist.
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Have lower-cost medicinal products such as generics and biosimilars prescribed when you need medication. The medicinal products are quick and easy to find using the Well app: set the search filter in the ‘Find Medications’ feature to ‘Inexpensive alternatives’ and launch your search.
Exceptions and obligations
To enjoy the benefits of the Combi Care model – such as reduced premiums and efficient, coordinated medical care – to the full, you have to abide by certain obligations. This section provides an overview of your obligations, the possible exceptions and the consequences if you fail to fulfil your obligations.
You must always contact your general practitioner or Medi24 if you have health issues and particularly before you make any appointment for treatment with a doctor, chiropractor or hospital.
You must notify Medi24 if the treating physician refers you for further treatment. The same applies if you are admitted to hospital or a nursing home.
The Combi Care model requires you to have lower-cost medicinal products such as generics and biosimilars (instead of branded preparations) prescribed when you need medication.
Combi Care only covers branded preparations if there is no generic or biosimilar for the group of active substances in question or if you have to have the branded preparation for medical reasons.
You can go straight to the doctor without contacting your general practitioner or Medi24 in the following situations:
- maternity
- gynaecological check-ups and treatment
- outpatient eye examinations and optical aids
- dental treatment
- emergencies
In an emergency, you should inform Medi24 at the next possible opportunity.
Combi Care gives you access to medical assistance at any time, either by phone or through your general practitioner. This means no waiting times, no consultation costs, no duplication and an attractive discount on your premium. We can only provide these advantages if you comply with the obligations set out above.
The first time you fail to contact Medi24 or your general practitioner before making an appointment and go straight to a specialist or buy branded preparations instead of generics or biosimilars, for example, we will send you a written reminder of your obligations. The second and third times, we reserve the right to reduce the benefits we pay by 50% or 100% respectively. The fourth time, we will transfer you from the Combi Care combined model to ordinary basic insurance.
Your advantages with Combi Care
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Personal advice from your general practitioner
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Telemedical advice over the phone from Medi24
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Health legal protection insurance included
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Attractive premiums, thanks to your obligations in an alternative insurance model
We will be happy to take the time to explain the advantages of the various basic insurance models to you at no obligation.
Useful services for you
Cleverly insured, optimally supported. These services assist you:
You can easily report referrals from your general practitioner or submit a post-emergency report to Medi24 via the Well app. Download the app and select the ‘Appointment confirmation’ function in the ‘Assistant’.
With ‘Emergency-Finder’, you are optimally equipped in critical medical situations. This app helps you to assess your symptoms correctly and shows you the nearest emergency ward in real time, along with its current capacity.
The cost-free service is available in the City of Bern and the surrounding metropolitan area.
See at a glance which benefits your basic insurance covers and what additional advantages our top-up insurance models offer.
Insurance that complements this product
Frequently asked questions about Combi Care, generics and biosimilars
Combi Care is a combined basic insurance model that gives you the flexibility to decide whether you wish to receive advice and referrals from your general practitioner or from Medi24.
This flexibility is also good for your wallet: in the Visana Combi Care model, we offer you attractive premiums.
Yes, with Visana Combi Care, you can contact your GP directly. If you are still looking for a doctor, you can use the GP search tool to find the right expert for you.
Generics are copies of other medication, designed to have a similar effect at a lower price. Once any medicinal product’s patent protection has expired, a generic version can be manufactured and marketed. Thus, generics are medicinal products that match the original in terms of active ingredient, dosage and dosage form. They are interchangeable with the respective branded preparations.
Biosimilars are medicinal products that can be made available to patients once the patent protection of their biotechnologically produced reference medication (innovators/biologics) has expired.
Generics are usually labelled with the active ingredient and company name (Pantoprazole Sandoz, Pantoprazole Mepha etc.) rather than a medication brand name. They are not clearly marked as generics on the packaging. However, you can always ask your pharmacist about this, as professionals know which medicinal products are generics.
- At a doctor’s practice: If you are given medication at a doctor’s practice, you can actively ask for a generic. Your doctor will know whether or not a generic version of the medication you need is available.
- At a pharmacy: First of all, it is important to tell the prescribing doctor that you would like a generic, if available, at the time when the prescription is being issued. If the branded preparation is prescribed despite such a request, you can actively ask for a generic when collecting at a pharmacy.
- Upon ordering from a mail-order pharmacy: In principle, the same rules apply as for a normal pharmacy. It is mainly chronically ill people who use mail-order pharmacies to obtain medication. Here, we recommend that, on a one-off basis, you draw the mail-order pharmacy’s attention to the obligation to obtain generics.
- Upon an inpatient hospital stay: You do not need to do anything during your stay. However, if you are given medication when discharged from hospital, you can actively ask for a generic.
- When the branded preparation is required for medical reasons. This is rare though, as the main active ingredients in branded preparations and generics are the same, and thus interchangeable.
- The treating physician must explain the medical reasons for any exceptions in a report, which is to be submitted to Visana.
- If no generic or biosimilar is on the market yet, for instance because the branded preparation is still under patent protection, Combi Care will, of course, cover the cost of the latter. In other words, you will also be reimbursed for new medicinal products.
- In cases of emergency treatment.
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