There has been an increase in the expenditure on healthcare in the Netherlands in 2018, reports NOS. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 100 billion euros was spent on health and welfare last year, with 3 billion euros more as compared to 2017. 

Healthcare costs in the Netherlands: where has it increased?

Healthcare is used as an umbrella term where it also includes “costs of medicines, costs for childcare and welfare” and so on in addition to medical care. Taking only medical care into account, health care costs come up to almost 79 billion euros.

There has also been an increase in the number of people who are working within the field, where there were nearly 38,000 more in 2018. General practice costs have also increased by 5.2%, and expenditure on medicines have increased by around 2%.

According to the CBS’ chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen, it could be partly because of an aging population that “needs care for a long time”.

Good news is that nearly 83% of these health care costs were made possible from mandatory insurance.

Measures are being undertaken by the government so that the costs do not rise considerably faster than the growing economy. As an example, Minister Bruins talked about how the cabinet has been fighting against over-priced medicines. He said on NOS Radio 1 Journal that healthcare care costs will be rising in the next few years, but their priority will remain “good patient care”.

Have you had a good experience of going to the doctor in the Netherlands, but it was ruined with your healthcare bill at the end of it? Was your insurance adequate or did you have to bear the burden of costs? What has your experience been like? Let us know in the comments below!