Aquilana is scratching the reserve minimum – premiums have to be increased again
The largest health insurance company from Aargau is a bit of a victim of its own success: even without taking an offensive, its customer base has recently doubled. However, the solvency ratio fell to 102 percent – just slightly above the required minimum of 100.
Aquilana’s headquarters on Bruggerstrasse in Baden.
Image: Javier Kussrow/zvg
One in four health insurance companies in Switzerland was underfunded as of January 1, 2024. At the beginning of the week, the case of CSS was discussed, which, as the country’s largest fund, fell below the solvency ratio required by the federal government. According to the requirements, a fund must have a minimum reserve so that it can meet all of its financial obligations even in an exceptionally bad year.
The ups and downs in reserves are common. The fact that more and more health insurance companies are slipping below the minimum quota seems to be a new phenomenon. In 2022, all funds met the minimum requirements, in 2023 seven funds had too few reserves, and at the beginning of this year there were 11 out of a total of 44.
A few more reserves have been reduced without falling into the insufficient range. This includes the Baden health insurance company Aquilana: With a solvency ratio of 102 percent, it remained just above the minimum limit of 100. If you look at the numbers since 2013, the solvency ratio at Aquilana has never been so low. The last low was in 2014, when the rate fell from 200 to 150.
Solvenzquote der Aquilana
Ratio of existing reserves to the required minimum level (in percent)
The solvency ratio, which was 267 percent in 2021 – the highest value in at least the last twelve years – fell to 167 in 2023 and to 102 at the beginning of 2024. There are no current figures for October because the federal government increases the ratio at the beginning of the year.
What was recently striking about Aquilana was the enormous increase in the number of insured people at the same time as the solvency ratio fell sharply. There were usually just over 40,000 insured people. In 2021, this number briefly fell to 38,675, but recovered again to 45,456 in 2022. Then things went uphill: in 2023, Aquilana suddenly had 71,938 insured people and began 2024 with 88,656. There are currently around 89,900.
Number of people insured with Aquilana
From 2022 to 2024 the number has doubled
Once it felt like a mailbox, today it feels like a modern insurance company
Aquilana is by far the most important health insurance company from Aargau. Emerged in the 1990s from the former health insurance company for BBC/ABB employees, it now operates nationwide. Around a third of those with basic insurance do not live in Aargau, but in the cantons of Zurich, Bern, Ticino or Vaud.
In 2023, Aquilana created a modern customer area at its headquarters on Bruggerstrasse in Baden, where the mailbox used to be particularly important for customers to post refund documents. However, the health insurance company, which is over 130 years old, will continue to be run as an association. There are no branch offices other than the headquarters in Baden, and Aquilana says it does not work with brokers. There are no annoying phone calls.
A year ago, a new, modern customer area was inaugurated at the headquarters in Baden.
Image: Zeljko Gataric Imhoff/zvg
It’s not the fault of the refugees
If Aquilana doesn’t advertise aggressively, where does the doubling of the customer base come from in just two years? Managing director Werner Stoller explains: The customer growth is “primarily due to the very good premium positioning”. Aquilana was repeatedly among the top three health insurance companies with the best premiums in the cantons of Aargau, Bern and Ticino. Since premiums nationwide have risen above average in the last two years, significantly more people have been looking for a cheaper solution.
At Comparis.ch, the cash register from Baden has received top marks for several years. In addition vThe canton of Aargau insures refugees with protection status S at Aquilana. So was it because of the Ukrainians? “The people with status S who the canton has insured with us are not relevant to this development,” says Werner Stoller.
Werner Stoller, managing director of the Aquilana health insurance company.
Image: Rolf Jenni/zvg
Another significant premium increase for 2025
“Aquilana expected customer growth in 2023, but not to this extent,” explains Werner Stoller. The premiums have already been increased significantly. But since practically all other health insurance companies also did this, Aquilana remained relatively cheap.
When there is strong customer growth, the average costs per insured person usually fall because the new insured claim lower benefits, he explains. But if the increase comes unexpectedly, This has an impact on risk compensation and provisionswhich Aquilana has already had to increase significantly.
This will be compensated for by increasing the premiums. In Aargau, at Aquilana, they increased by 4 percent in 2023 and 10 percent in 2024 for adults aged 26 and over. For 2025, the average premium increase will be around 14 percent.
In the Baden region, CH Media knows of the case of a single mother with a teenage daughter who will have to pay almost 70 francs more per month next year. As well as from an adult customer who has been insured with Aquilana since childhood and whose monthly premium will be increased by 50 francs in 2025.
More articles from these communities
