Health insurance premiums 2027: Ticino remains Switzerland's most expensive canton

There is no relief in sight for Switzerland's healthcare costs: from January 2027, the average monthly health insurance premium will rise by 5% nationwide, to 412 francs. In Ticino the increase slows to 3.7%, after last year's 7.1% jump, the steepest rise of any canton. The slowdown does not change the ranking, though: Ticino remains the canton with the highest average premium in Switzerland, at 519.90 francs a month, more than 100 francs above the national average. In absolute terms, the increase amounts to 18.60 francs a month.

In Graubünden the percentage increase is sharper, at 4.3%, but the premium level remains markedly lower: 360.30 francs a month, an increase of 14.70 francs.

Figures released on Tuesday by the Federal Office of Public Health also show differences by age group. In Ticino, adults over 26 will pay an average of 603.60 francs a month, up from 582.30 francs today. Young adults aged 19 to 25 will pay an average of 418.40 francs, and minors aged 0 to 18 will pay 153.20 francs. In Graubünden, the average premium for adults is 415.60 francs, for young adults 291.90 francs, and for minors 111.40 francs. Nationally, the average premium for adults rises to 487.60 francs, for young adults to 338.80 francs, and for minors to 128.10 francs.

Behind the premiums lie healthcare costs, which are the highest in the country in Ticino: 6,051 francs per capita a year in 2025, against a Swiss average of 4,938 francs. In the fourth quarter of 2025, however, these costs grew more slowly in Ticino (+2.9%) than in the rest of the country (+5.3%). The categories that grew the most were Spitex home care, up 7.9% in Ticino and 9.8% nationally, and physiotherapy, up 7.2% and 5.8% respectively.

Bellinzona points to its own cost-containment measures

The Ticino cantonal government called it “incoraggiante” (in English: “encouraging”) that, for the first time in years, premium growth in Ticino is lower than the national average. It attributes this to cantonal cost-containment measures: moratoriums on eight medical specialties, among the strictest in Switzerland, and tighter quality criteria for practice authorisation and access to residual cantonal funding in the home-care sector. Bellinzona acknowledges, however, that further measures will be needed.

In Bern, Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said the burden of premiums has become too heavy for many taxpayers. Referring to the national average premium, she said “412 franchi al mese sono un sacco di soldi” (in English: “412 francs a month is a lot of money”), and she called on all actors in the system to “prendersi le proprie responsabilità” (in English: “take responsibility”). According to the health minister, the rise in costs - and therefore in premiums - stems from an ageing population, medical and technical progress, and a growing number of treatments per patient, a trend observed for about a decade. Easier access to new treatments and medicines is positive, she said, but it comes at a cost.

For Ticino households, which already pay the highest premium in the country, the open question is whether cantonal subsidies will need to rise to ease the burden on lower incomes.