I tried Google but I didn’t find an answer, what exactly is the difference between a standard and a Hausarzt Modell? It says in standard you can choose a doctor, does that mean that you can just go to any doctor you want? Like to multiple doctors no questions asked?

3 comments

1. Basic you can go straight to the specialist.

   Hausarzt you have to go to your family doctor first, who will refer you to a specialist (or potentially persuade you against it)

   https://www.swisslife.ch/en/individuals/blog/health-insurance-in-switzerland.html

2. AFAIK with the “Hausarztmodell”, you choose your general practitioner from a list. If you need a specialist like an orthorinolaryngologist, a gyaecologist or else, you need a referral from that GP (except for eye doctors and dentists and ??).

   With the standard model, you are free to go wherever you like.

3. I’ve heard that specialists won’t accept you for an appointment unless you were referred to them by someone else, or you’ll have much longer waiting time. Since it seems many people just go for whatever to them, for things that maybe even pharmacy could help you with, for example.

   So yes, in theory on standard model you can go to whomever you want. In practice it might not be like that.

   Again I’ve just heard about this distinction, didn’t tried it personally.