Please note that the UNIQA office at CERN (Main Building) will be closed during the two-week end-of-year closure.
During that period, UNIQA's offices in Geneva will remain open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be closed on Monday, 25 December 2023 and on Monday, 1 January 2024. During open periods you can also reach UNIQA by telephone on +41 22 718 63 00.
For urgent medical assistance, you may call UNIQA Assistance +41 22 819 44 77, 24h/day throughout this period. Please note that this service only provides medical advice and urgent assistance services and is not in a position to inform you on the coverage by CHIS of medical expenses.
Please note that the UNIQA office at CERN (Main Building) and in Geneva will be exceptionally closed on Monday 1 May 2023. During that period, you cannot reach UNIQA by telephone.
For urgent medical assistance, you may call UNIQA Assistance +41 22 819 44 77, 24h/day throughout this period. Please note that this service only provides medical advice and urgent assistance services and is not in a position to inform you on the coverage by CHIS of medical expenses.
The UNIQA offices at CERN and in Geneva will welcome you back to the usual schedule from Tuesday 2 May 2023.
All CHIS members have the right to be reimbursed for certain alternative therapies under specific conditions.
These alternative therapies are acupuncture, Chinese medicine, chiropractic medicine, osteopathy and etiopathy.
You may consult acupuncturists, doctors practising Chinese medicine and chiropractors, provided that they are recognised, qualified doctors licensed to practise medicine by the competent national authority of the country in which they operate.
To find out whether your practitioner is recognised in Switzerland, you can consult the register of Swiss doctors on the FMH website: doctorfmh.ch, which is the only official such register.
For France, the official register is the one maintained by the Ministry for Solidarity and Health: annuaire.sante.fr, which lists both doctors and medical auxiliaries.
Osteopathy and etiopathy are also recognised as alternative therapies, but there are two possible scenarios:
Your osteopath or etiopath is a recognised, qualified doctor licensed to practise medicine by the competent national authority of the country in which he or she operates: you may attend a consultation without a medical prescription.
Your osteopath or etiopath is not a doctor, but holds a diploma as a recognised, qualified osteopath or etiopath licensed to practise the discipline: you may attend a maximum of five sessions per calendar year without a medical prescription. However, from the 6th session onwards, a medical prescription is necessary to be reimbursed.
If in doubt, we recommend that you contact UNIQA before undergoing any treatment to obtain information on the conditions of coverage.
Auxiliary medical care encompasses a vast range of services, and the rules governing how it is covered frequently give rise to questions from members. Below is a non-exhaustive list of the medical auxiliaries most frequently covered by the CHIS, for most members, provided that you have a medical prescription.
Nurse
Physiotherapist / osteopath
Occupational therapist
Midwife
Speech–language therapist
Dietician
Orthoptist
Psychologist
Podiatrist / medical pedicure (subject to certain conditions and prior approval)
Whenever long-term treatment is concerned, the UNIQA manager is authorised to examine the effectiveness of the care, drawing on the expertise of UNIQA's advising doctors. In certain situations, members may request authorisation to exceptionally exceed the ceiling for medical auxiliary expenses, which is set at CHF 3 300 per year. (Voluntary members with reduced or short-term cover are not entitled to reimbursements for auxiliary medical care).
These providers must hold a recognised national qualification and be certified by the relevant national body in the country in which they practise. Provided that it has been prescribed by a doctor, such treatment is covered by the CHIS in any country, subject to similar conditions as those applied to treatment administered in France and Switzerland.
Osteopath
Sessions with an osteopath are covered by the CHIS if the provider is certified in the country in which they practise:
In Switzerland, this means being on the National Register of Healthcare Professions, NAREG.
In France, this means being registered with the regional health department (ARS) and having a number issued by the national social security system’s ADELI directory.
Psychologist
Sessions with a psychologist are covered by the CHIS if they have been prescribed by your doctor and if the provider is certified in the country in which they
In the autumns of 2020 and 2021, the CHIS team, with the support of the CERN Medical Service, organised seasonal flu vaccination campaigns for CHIS members. These campaigns took place against the unprecedented backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and a shortage of flu vaccines, with the aim of ensuring that retired CHIS members and family members over the age of 18, who are not registered in the national healthcare systems, had access to protection against the flu virus.
As access to seasonal flu vaccines is no longer a problem, the CHIS will not run such a campaign in 2022. Instead, retirees and family members can be vaccinated against the flu at pharmacies and doctor’s surgeries.
In France and Switzerland, the flu vaccination period generally starts in mid-October and runs until the beginning of the flu wave.
For information, Friday, 25 November 2022 is national flu vaccination day in Switzerland, when anyone interested can be vaccinated on the spot, without an appointment, at one of the participating doctor’s surgeries or pharmacies.
Information about the 2022–2023 flu vaccination campaign in France can be found on the website of the Ministry of Health and Prevention.
With the snow and the ice, pavements and road surfaces can resemble skating rinks, increasing the risk of slips and injuries. Winter sports are also a common source of accidents. At this time of year, the CERN infirmary sees more people coming in with musculoskeletal problems after a fall.
In 2021 in Switzerland, 195 000 people were injured after tripping, falling or slipping while walking or on the stairs (Suva, 2021). At CERN, in 2022, three people fell off their bicycles, resulting in one being signed off work for eight days, and one person fell while walking and was signed off for four days.
In addition, over 30 000 employees in Switzerland suffer winter sports injuries every year (Suva, 2021). According to a report published in 2021 by the French Observatoire d'accidentologie des sports d'hiver, more than 110 000 people experienced traumatic injuries in France in 2020.
In downhill skiing, sprained knees are the most common injury, accounting for almost a third of the total (32%), with shoulder injuries – mainly dislocated shoulders – accounting for 15%. Snowboarding most commonly results in wrist fractures (25%) or shoulder injuries (19%).
So how can you glide through the season smoothly and make the most of the winter sports opportunities?
Whether or not you’re a fan of snow sports, take care during your journeys and activities.
Whichever sport you choose, make sure that you’re prepared and have the right kit. Here are some basic tips for skiers and snowboarders in particular:
Influenza, more commonly known as ‘the flu’, is a highly contagious disease which can cause mild to severe illness and even death, particularly for those in the high-risk groups (the very young, the older population, those with an underlying health condition, those who are pregnant, overweight or who have a weakened immune system). Symptoms usually last between 3 and 7 days, although in some instances these can persist for several weeks. Recovering from flu generally takes one or two weeks, and sometimes more.
The virus spreads through water droplets, especially when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or via contaminated hands and surfaces.
Hygiene measures such as washing of hands, coughing into your elbow, and keeping your distance, are good habits to keep up, as they are effective in helping to reduce our chances of contracting and/or spreading the flu virus.
However, the vaccine remains the best way to protect yourself and others against flu, to prevent the spread of the disease and to reduce its severity. It is important to get a flu shot every year to keep up with the circulating variants of the influenza virus and thus avoid being bed-ridden or developing complications.
