Netherlands Medical Insurance News

The Dutch healthcare system is an interesting symbiosis of both public and privately funded healthcare and medical services. The Dutch government is not involved in the day-to-day running of healthcare services in the country, despite the fact that there are many government owned medical facilities. Generally the private medical community is primarily responsible for the provision of everyday medical services, while the government is tasked with the supervision and oversight of the quality and accessibility of the nation's healthcare services as a whole.

In 2006 legislative reforms were introduced that made it mandatory for every resident of the Netherlands to obtain some form of comprehensive health insurance. This has virtually eliminated any prior differences that may have existed between the public and private healthcare systems, as everyone in the country is now covered by personal insurance policies. This new insurance scheme has government mandated minimums that all health insurance companies operating in Holland must offer, and the government has fixed the premium rates for these insurance services.

What this means is that while individuals are required to obtain health insurance coverage they will usually only receive the minimum amount of cover as mandated by law, leaving them woefully exposed in the event of any serious illness or injury. However, the system that has been instituted in Holland has proven to be a suitable alternative to the traditional Private vs Public healthcare debate, and has given the Dutch heath care system the large amount of acclaim that it currently holds around the world.

The Dutch healthcare system is set up around the family doctor. It is this primary physician that is responsible for the mental and physical health of the community, to such an extent that almost all residents of the Netherlands are registered with a family doctor. In the event that a patient needs to go to hospital it is the primary doctor who will make the recommendation, or in the event of an emergency, provide additional details to the hospital staff. This level of familiarity between patients and doctors is not often achieved in many other countries and serves to make the Dutch healthcare system unique.

In 2003 the Dutch spent 8.9% of their total GDP on healthcare, and while this spending was below the levels seen in many other European nations, it was still extremely high. The institution of the nations “health insurance” plan have lead to a number of improvements throughout the healthcare system as a whole, and have removed many of the obstacles associated with the old system. Foreign nationals are, however, continuing to experience problems with the system, as individuals who lack residency document are ineligible to join the nations health insurance scheme and must, instead, rely on their own insurance.

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