Paracetamol jokes aside, Dutch healthcare is some of the best in the world. The bad news? Healthcare premiums are pricey — and they’re growing even more expensive as we speak.
Ja hoor, you read that right! Dutch healthcare premiums will shoot up by a whopping 8.4% in 2024, with even the cheapest insurance policy now costing you €149 per month.
Experts: you can thank inflation for the rise
Well, who’s to blame for the runaway healthcare premiums? Patrick Jeurissen, Radboud’s professor of affordable and accessible care, blames raging inflation for the “exceptionally high rise” in premiums.
(And he’s not joking either, with last year’s inflation hitting a max of 10%! 😳)
Speaking to RTL Nieuws, Jeurissen notes that “higher wages have been agreed in the care collective agreements.”
In my opinion, the article romanticises the health care system in the Netherlands. Yes, a health insurance is available for everyone but there is still a large group of people who can barely pay the monthly premium.— Sigrid Witteveen (@SigridWitteveen) January 20, 2020
As a chunk of the wages for hospital staff are taken from healthcare premiums, we will now see a delayed reaction to that price hike in our healthcare premiums.
Something has to give
This is the steepest increase in Dutch healthcare premiums since 2006, and it has, quite naturally, garnered some criticism.
CEO of insurer DSW, Aad de Groot, is one of many public figures questioning the long-term sustainability of this price hike.
Opposing murmurs have also found their way into the Dutch House of Representatives. Political parties such as Groenlinks, PvdA, and PVV are also voicing their concerns about the growing unaffordability of healthcare.
READ MORE | Groceries or healthcare? 1 in 5 Dutchies avoids seeing a doctor due to high costs
In conversation with RTL Nieuws, de Groot offered a parting word of wisdom: “A lot of people are overinsured for care they don’t actually need. It’s good to take a critical look at what’s really important.”
What do you think of the rise in healthcare premiums? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Of course Groenlinks, PvdA, and PVV are also voicing their concern! They are all Communist or at the least, Communistlite. Take a trip to Cuba and see what these political parties are ultimately after. I’ve been there.
I inadvertently copied too much and pasted in PVV who are most certainly NOT Communist. PVV supports PEOPLE; the others support POWER! It’s WHY you support a bill that matters.
The government should really pull the breaks to these increases. It is an unavoidable monthly cost for everyone and the premiums are already eating up a big chunk of everyone’s salary. For now, my insurance only has an additional dental plan next to the basic package and it is costing me almost 200€ monthly. And it is very ironic how this is paid by our net salaries. In the end our actual net salary end us being 100-200€ less because of the health insurance premiums