Voluntary self-regulation is finally over. The health insurance industry has received rules from the Federal Council for the brokerage of insurance. Consumer protection is very pleased that unwanted advertising calls are being restricted. For years it has been calling for the excesses of insurance brokers to be stopped. In some areas, however, the Federal Council should have protected the insured more consistently.
Already from the beginning of September the regulations The most important change for the insured is that cold calling by telephone will be prohibited. This demand was made by the President of the Consumer Protection Agency, Nadine Masshardt, in a Initiative in autumn 2023 Insurance brokers are no longer allowed to call random people to sell them insurance. Unfortunately, the Federal Council has imposed a restriction. The ban only applies if the person has never been insured with the provider or at least has not been insured with the provider in the last three years. Consumer protection fears that this generous regulation for the health insurance company will not reduce the number of advertising calls to the desired extent.
Consumer protection also has big question marks over the increase in commission payments for supplementary insurance. The maximum compensation for these insurances is set significantly higher than for basic insurance. This creates an additional incentive for – often unnecessary – supplementary insurance products to be sold even more aggressively in the future.
The mandatory requirement that a protocol is drawn up during a consultation and that this is to be signed by the customer is also welcome. But here too, consumer protection sees certain risks for the insured: contracts must not be concluded fraudulently using the protocol. This can be the case if a consumer signs a document whose content she is unable to assess.
It is important that the innovations and improvements decided by the Federal Council are implemented in such a way that the insured are better protected. Consumer protection therefore requires that an authority monitors and also sanctions the correct implementation and compliance with the requirements.
