TCS fills an insurance gap with the new emergency cover letter
As the largest private player in the ambulance sector, TCS has been complementing the highly fragmented emergency rescue and patient transport sector since 2021. Through this activity, its decades of experience in emergency assistance and market analyses, TCS strives to improve the healthcare system. It is now closing the gap between reduced mobility after a medical incident and ambulance costs.
Founded as a non-profit organization, the Touring Club Switzerland has been active in emergency health assistance for over 60 years, particularly in connection with the ETI cover letter. Three years ago, TCS entered the ambulance sector. TCS Swiss Ambulance Rescue is now the largest private player in the ambulance sector and complements the highly fragmented emergency rescue and patient transport sector. With 50 ambulances, over 30,000 missions are carried out annually in six cantons.
"We analyze the market on an ongoing basis," comments TCS Director General Jürg Wittwer on the commitment. When analyzing member expectations, the TCS noticed an insurance gap. On the one hand, a recent TCS survey shows that the population has practically unlimited trust in the local rescue services and emergency care. On the other hand, respondents felt less secure with regard to financial cover after emergencies. TCS has now developed a solution for securing mobility after a medical incident and the partially uncovered costs of emergency transportation with its new emergency cover letter.
Solution for organizational and financial burden
A skiing accident, a fall on a bike or from a ladder: the subsequent injuries after an accident can last for weeks or even months. During this time, you are physically restricted, immobile and dependent on help. The following questions then quickly arise: how do I manage not to remain isolated and continue to lead a social life, how can I go shopping, how do I get to work, how am I supposed to take my children to nursery or field hockey training? The recovery period, for example after a cruciate ligament rupture or even a fracture, is often long, arduous and often associated with pain. The situation becomes even more stressful if you don't know how to cope with everyday life due to temporary immobility.
Even if many things are covered by supplementary health insurance or the employer's accident insurance, there is still an insurance gap when it comes to mobility. If there is a medically confirmed mobility restriction that makes it impossible for the patient to make the usual journeys from home, the new emergency cover from TCS comes into play. This includes trips, for example by cab, to work, to the shopping center, to meetings with friends, to the doctor or to physiotherapy; not only for the injured person themselves, but also - and this is special - for their immediate family, such as their children. Costs of up to CHF 10,000 are covered, for a maximum period of three months and once a year.
Ambulance transport costs covered
The TCS emergency cover letter also covers the costs of health emergencies, namely emergency transportation. The cost of an ambulance call-out can quickly add up. A journey of 50 kilometers can cost between 1,000 and 2,000 francs. Basic insurance only covers half the cost of the ambulance ride.
Roman Burkart, Director of the Interverband für Rettungswesen, knows the problem of ambulance costs only too well. "The costs can be serious for patients in some cases. The Health Insurance Act is simply no longer up to date here," he comments.
This means that if someone has to be taken directly by ambulance (via the general emergency number 144) to the nearest suitable Swiss hospital due to an unforeseeable accident or illness, the costs are covered by the TCS emergency cover letter, which other compulsory and voluntary insurances or third parties liable to pay do not pay.
Source: TCS
