Questions and answers on paid family caregiving

You receive a wage of up to CHF 35.00 gross per hour – depending on the canton of the person you care for. You are paid for the basic care you provide – up to the time a qualified nurse sets in the assessment at your home. Your wage is paid every month.

Employment and pay for family caregivers

A qualified nurse decides this during the assessment at your home – based on the time an outside carer would need. There is no fixed number of hours. Help that spouses or family members owe each other anyway cannot be billed.

We review the care needs regularly, at least every 6 months. If the care needs change, the hours change too.

Basic care as the basis of your pay

As an employee of Spitex Medimex, you are covered by AHV/IV/EO (old-age and survivors’ insurance, disability insurance and income compensation) and unemployment insurance, and you are insured against occupational accidents. If you work at least 8 hours a week for us, you are also insured against non-occupational accidents.

You join the pension fund once your annual wage reaches CHF 22’680 (2026). Whether that applies to you depends on your hours – we will look at it with you in the consultation.

If you have already reached the AHV reference age, different rules apply – for example no unemployment insurance and no obligation to join a pension fund. We will discuss this with you.

Pay and social insurance

Yes. Employment for basic care can be combined with an existing job, provided there is no conflict under employment law – we will clarify this with you in the consultation.

More about employment with Spitex Medimex

Family members, spouses and partners, and people from your close circle. What matters is not being related, but that you already support the person you care for regularly and reliably and take responsibility for them. You must be at least 18 years old.

Who counts as a family member

To be employed, these requirements must be met:

1. 1At least 18 years old
2. 2You care for someone close to you
3. 3A stable, long-term care situation
4. 4No conflicts with employment law
5. 5Willing to take part in quality measures
6. 6Everyone involved agrees

Our anonymous Quick-Check shows you whether you meet them – without us recording any of your data.

Check the requirements – Quick-Check

You do not need a nursing diploma. For basic care, a careful introduction is enough – your qualified nurse gives it to you.

The cantons of Zurich and Aargau also require you to complete a recognised care assistant course or equivalent training within 12 months of starting. In the other cantons, we discuss with you whether a course makes sense for you. Recognised courses are available in the cantons of Zurich, Aargau, Schwyz and St. Gallen. If you take a course, Spitex Medimex covers half of the cost. We support you along the way.

Introduction and support from your nurse

Spitex Medimex pays for the course up front and covers half of the cost. You pay back your share in monthly amounts that we agree on together and deduct from your wage.

The cantons of Zurich and Aargau require the course within the first 12 months. In the other cantons we discuss with you whether a course makes sense, which one suits you and when.

Introduction and care assistant course

You are paid for basic care under Art. 7 para. 2 let. c no. 1 KLV: help with activities that the person you care for can no longer do on their own because of their illness – for example personal hygiene, dressing and undressing, eating and drinking, positioning and mobilisation.

Not paid: treatment care (such as preparing medication, dressing wounds, giving injections), companionship and support, housework and simply being present. Treatment care is provided by our qualified nurses.

What counts as basic care

Treatment care – such as preparing medication, injecting insulin or changing dressings – remains reserved for professionals and is not paid to family caregivers.

If the person you care for needs treatment care, the qualified nurses of Spitex Medimex provide it; this requires a doctor’s order. So you provide the basic care and we provide the treatment care.

Treatment care by our professionals (opens in a new window)

Family caregivers need breaks too. If you are unable to provide care, for example during holidays or illness, we plan your relative’s care together with you – where possible with Spitex Medimex staff. We agree with you in advance how the cover will work.

Support and respite

During a stay in hospital or a care home, there is no basic care at home – so no care hours arise during that time. When your relative comes home again, we review the care needs together.

If your relative stays in a care home permanently or dies, basic care at home ends. Whatever the situation, we will discuss with you personally what happens to your employment.

Contact Spitex Medimex

Yes, it contributes to basic care. Since the Federal Supreme Court ruling of 18 April 2019 (BGE 145 V 161, 9C_187/2019), it has been clear: relatives employed by a Spitex organisation may provide basic care even without nursing training. The Spitex organisation must support and supervise them professionally.

As a Spitex organisation approved under basic health insurance, Spitex Medimex bills your relative’s health insurer directly. You receive your wage from us.

Legal basis and employment

For your relative, the same applies as with any Spitex service: the deductible, the co-payment and the cantonal patient contribution – even if you have so far cared for them without pay. You will find the amounts for each canton on the Spitex Medimex prices page.

Prices and patient contribution by canton (opens in a new window)

If your relative receives an IV assistance contribution, it is reduced by the time of basic care paid for by health insurance. A helplessness allowance is not reduced.

We are happy to clarify in advance how employment affects other benefits – such as supplementary benefits or premium reductions.

Get free advice

Basic health insurance only pays for home care provided by approved providers, for example a Spitex organisation approved by the canton. As a private individual, you therefore cannot bill your health insurer for the care yourself.

Employment with Spitex Medimex makes it possible: we bill the basic care to the health insurer, pay your wage and support you professionally. This professional support is the condition for health insurance contributing to the basic care.

How the employment works

Yes. Spitex organisations can employ family caregivers, and several cantons regulate this explicitly, for example with requirements on training and professional supervision. On 18 April 2019, the Federal Supreme Court ruled (BGE 145 V 161, 9C_187/2019) that health insurance contributes to basic care provided by employed relatives – even without nursing training, as long as the Spitex organisation supports and supervises them professionally.

The federal government and the cantons are revising the rules for employing family caregivers; new federal rules are not expected before 2028. We will let you know if anything changes for you.

Legal basis of the employment

The steps to your employment:

1. 1Free consultation
2. 2Assessment at your home
3. 3Contract and introduction
4. 4Caring, with support

Basic care does not require a doctor’s order; we send the result of the assessment to your GP for information. We will agree with you in our first conversation when your employment can start.

Get free advice

Spitex Medimex employs family caregivers in the cantons of Zurich, Aargau, Schwyz and St. Gallen. What counts is the canton where the person you care for lives; your wage also depends on it.

Does your relative live in another canton? Call us anyway on 044 500 49 27 – we will tell you honestly what is possible.

Spitex Medimex as your employer