It isn’t just gas, food, and houses that are getting more expensive: the health insurer DSW has announced that the monthly premium for the basic healthcare package will be €39 more expensive next year.
We can feel your panic levels rising. 🥵 Don’t worry, the €39 increase is for the year. On a monthly basis, health insurance will be €3,25 more than it is now.
Not insured by DSW? You’ll still be paying more too
Each year, DSW is the first insurer to announce its new healthcare premium. Other providers then usually follow suit with similar rate increases, RTL Nieuws reports.
READ MORE | 19 questions answered about Dutch health insurance in 2021
Subsidised by the government
According to DSW, the increase is necessary in order to cover rising costs, such as additional personnel in healthcare and more expensive medicines — and as you can imagine, coronavirus didn’t help the cause.
DSW actually stated that these additional costs would justify an increase of €7,50 per month, but luckily insurers are reimbursed part of their coronavirus costs by the state
The price rise calculated by DSW is similar to the €31 increase predicted by the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport on Budget Day — but at €39 it’s on the higher end. These increases are necessary, as the ministry predicts that in 2022, healthcare will cost an estimated €2 billion more than it did a year earlier. 😱
Considering changing your health insurance provider?
All insurers are obliged to announce their new premiums by November 12, at the latest. This gives consumers more than a month and a half to decide whether they want to switch providers. 📅
If this is something that’s on your mind, you must cancel your current insurance no later than December 31. You then have a whole month to choose a new insurer.
What are your thoughts on the increased cost of health insurance in 2022? Tell us in the comments below!
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