Before you start

Registration at your commune
Address in the canton
Residence permit or registration confirmation
For frontaliers: a G permit and a decision on the droit d'option

Step-by-step

1
Register at your commune first — the three-month clock starts there
Registering late compresses the window you have to pick an insurer, and the canton will assign you one if it expires.
In personWho: YouWithin 14 days of arrival
2
Compare on the federal premium tool
Basic LAMal benefits are identical by law across every insurer, so only price, service and model differ. The Federal Office of Public Health publishes every approved premium by canton, region and age band.
OnlineWho: You
3
Choose your franchise and model
Adults pick an annual deductible between CHF 300 and CHF 2,500, then pay 10% of costs above it up to an annual cap. Family-doctor, HMO and telemedicine models cut the premium and mostly change who you contact first.
OnlineWho: You
4
Enrol within three months of registration
Cover backdates to your arrival and anything you paid in the interim is reimbursed. Miss the window and the canton assigns an insurer and bills retroactively regardless.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 3 months of registration≈CHF 527 per adult per month on average in 2026, before subside
5
Apply to the Office vaudois de l'assurance-maladie for the subside
The scheme is designed so premiums stay near ten percent of determining income, and more than a third of the cantonal population receives something. The assessment normally runs off your latest tax decision — which a newcomer does not have — so apply with a declaration of current income instead of waiting.
OnlineWho: You
6
Frontaliers: exercise the droit d'option within three months of starting work
A French resident working in Vaud chooses once between Swiss LAMal and the French public system. The choice is irrevocable while your situation is unchanged, and doing nothing puts you into LAMal by default.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 3 months of starting work

Documents you’ll need

Registration confirmation
Residence permit or G permit
Address in the canton
Passport
For the subside: a current income declaration or your latest Vaud tax decision

Things most newcomers don’t know

Vaud is the only canton that ties the subsidy to a share of income rather than to a fixed threshold.

The design principle is that compulsory premiums should not exceed roughly ten percent of a household's determining income, with a supplementary subside where the ordinary one is not enough. It catches middle incomes that would get nothing in most cantons, and the number of Vaud households receiving something runs above a third of the population.

Source: Canton of Vaud — conditions for health insurance subsides

The subside is assessed from a tax file a newcomer does not yet have.

The office works from your latest cantonal tax decision. In your first year there is none, so you are invisible to the automatic assessment and must apply with a declaration of current income. Households who assume it will find them simply pay full premiums for a year or two and never recover the difference.

Source: Office vaudois de l'assurance-maladie

The Vaud scheme is generous but it is not fixed — it was trimmed for 2026.

The thresholds and the determining-income formula are set annually and were reduced for 2026 even as premiums rose, which drew criticism at the time. Anyone budgeting on a figure from an older guide, or from a colleague who applied two years ago, will be planning against numbers that no longer apply. Check the current barème.

Source: Cantonal subside policy, 2026 adjustment

For French commuters, the droit d'option is a single career-length decision made under a three-month clock.

Living in France and working in Vaud, you choose once between LAMal and the French public scheme. It is irrevocable unless your situation genuinely changes — a first Swiss job, a return from unemployment, a change of country of residence. Families often find the French side cheaper and Swiss access harder to replace, and there is no undo.

Source: CLEISS — droit d'option of France-Switzerland cross-border workers

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming your employer provides health insurance — no Swiss employer does.
Missing the three-month enrolment window and being assigned an insurer with retroactive premiums.
Never applying for the subside because you assume the canton will find you from tax data you have not filed yet.
Budgeting on subside figures from an older year, when the barème is reset annually.
As a French commuter, letting the three-month droit d'option lapse and defaulting into LAMal.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.