Yougov Brandindex: This is how healthy Swiss health insurance brands are
Rising costs and political initiatives such as the upcoming vote on the premium reduction initiative repeatedly lead to the question: What status and image do health insurance companies have among the Swiss population? An ongoing brand study by Yougov provides answers.
The Swiss healthcare system repeatedly receives praise and admiration from abroad - due to its universality and high quality, among other things. Nevertheless, in the Prosperity Index 2023, for example, compiled by the Legatum Institute, Switzerland only ranks 10th worldwide in terms of the "health" pillar.
This is particularly painful at a time when health insurance premiums are only going in one direction: steeply upwards. At the beginning of 2023, Swiss health insurance premiums had risen by an average of 6.6 percent, and by an average of 8.7 percent at the beginning of 2024. The comparison service Comparis expects a further 6 percent increase in 2025. In concrete terms: if a premium was still CHF 300 at the start of 2022, it would cost just under CHF 348 two years later, i.e. around CHF 50 more per month. Additional costs per person of CHF 600 per year on average. Of course, there are downward and upward deviations, for example due to age, canton of residence, premium model or chosen health insurance provider, but the increase is noticeable for everyone. It is therefore not surprising that the issue is a major concern for society as a whole. The main reasons for rising premiums include an ageing (and sicker) society, more frequent visits to the doctor, the increased costs per visit and the associated more expensive medication (source: Blick).
Helsana loses customers, but remains Brand Health number 1
What influence does all this have on the perception of health insurance companies, which are increasingly knocking on the door with higher premium bills? The continuous brand tracking BrandIndex from the market research company YouGov provides answers. Among other things, around 200 people representative of the population are surveyed weekly about their perception of around 30 brands from the health insurance and insurance world.
To measure the health of a brand - brand health - YouGov's brand tracking system uses the Brand Health Index, which is made up of six different parameters in equal parts: General impression of a brand, quality perception, value for money, (employer) reputation, satisfaction (among current and former customers) and recommendation. These six key figures flow equally into the Health Index, which represents the average of these and therefore includes various facets of perception.
A comparison of the first quarter of 2024 with the same quarter of the previous year shows that there were only a few changes in the top 10 health insurance companies. In absolute terms, Swica lost significant ground to Brand Health and slipped from 2nd to 3rd place. CSS inherited Swica's original ranking and is now in 2nd place. ÖKK (8th place) and Groupe Mutuel (9th place) were also able to significantly increase their index values, but only Groupe Mutuel (previously 10th place), which unlike the other providers is not a pure health insurance company, was able to improve its ranking.
If we look at the "current customers" KPI (not shown), we see that Helsana has lost a significant number of customers compared to the same quarter of the previous year and is now in third place. Assura has also lost significant ground here and is now in 5th place. Helsana is always among the leaders across various dimensions of the Brand Health Index - despite a slight loss of customers. This is also shown by the buzz value: this indicates whether people have heard something positive or negative about a brand in the last two weeks and then offsets the positive against the negative. If the buzz value is positive, the positive outweighs the negative; if the buzz value is negative, the negative outweighs the positive. Here too, Helsana, Swica and CSS occupy the top three places in descending order. In terms of negative buzz, Groupe Mutuel occupies the inglorious top spot with a score of 5 percent.
KPT no longer the cheapest health insurance company, but ...
Helsana, CSS and Swica are also the three most attractive brands in terms of employer branding (reputation). Of those who know the respective brands, around 17% of respondents said that they would be proud to work for the respective health insurer (see perception profile Top 7). Basically, the two largest health insurers, Helsana and CSS, are ahead in terms of perception by their respective connoisseurs. However, in terms of value, i.e. the price-performance ratio, it is not one of the Big 2 that performs best, but KPT. The equally smaller Sanitas follows in second place. KPT is also on a par with Helsana and Swica in terms of recommendation, while CSS comes out on top. It is interesting to note that Concordia, despite currently having the lowest premiums in the country (source: NZZ), is not perceived as being better value for money. The only mediocre quality perception of Concordia by those who know it indicates that although it has the lowest prices, it may not have the best ratio of prices to benefits. Although KPT has ceded the objective price leadership to Concordia, it continues to impress its insiders (and the population as a whole) with a good price-performance ratio. This is also evidenced by the high recommendation and consideration rate. The health insurance company with the + therefore still appears to be one of the winners.
This article originally appeared on markt-kom.com - https://www.werbewoche.ch/de/marketing/marktforschung/2024-06-03/yougov-brandindex-so-gesund-sind-schweizer-krankenkassen-marken/
