Even though the Netherlands is considered to have one of the best healthcare systems in the world, the rising costs of healthcare are alarming. Health care in the Netherlands is under pressure, especially when it comes to affordability. According to calculations, we are moving towards a health premium that will triple in a few decades.
Today healthcare costs an average of six thousand Euros per Dutch per year. About fifteen hundred Euros of this is a health care premium, the rest comes from the government and you pay taxes on your salary (income-related contributions to the Health Insurance Act).
With the rapid increase, the total cost per capita will reach sixteen Euros. It is a huge amount, and even with inflation, it is difficult to bear.
That is why austerity measures are not avoided in basic health insurance. This could be already underway in 2022. Health insurers are currently investigating what care may be lacking in the next year. As a result of these developments, it is expected that more people will compare and then switch.
There are a number of reasons that contribute to the rapid and steep rise in healthcare costs and thus healthcare premiums.
Aging plays an important role. The elderly need more care and life expectancy continues to increase. While people used to live to an average of seventy-one years in 1950, today they are able to celebrate their birthdays an average of eighty-two times. The future expectation is that this average in forty years will be eighty-eight.
Changing lifestyles lead to more diseases. Think about obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. More and more people are getting cancer. We can classify all these diseases as diseases of wealth.
There is a shortage of health workers and significant investment is needed in this area as well. The shortage will continue to grow, as the demand for care will increases. Now fifteen percent work in health, a few decades ago it was only seven percent.
It is very likely that, with age, between three and four million Dutch people will soon have to work to provide care for a group in need.
Until now, only things have been included in the basic healthcare package. This is why when the current healthcare system was introduced back in 2006, people only had to pay seventy-eight Euros a month, now the basic insurance premium is over one hundred fifteen Euros per month.
Therefore, a selective review will take place in which unnecessary care can be removed from the basic policy.
Of course, there are other factors that contribute to the amount of the premium. Inflation and negotiations will lead to higher salaries; greater use of mental health care due to stress, and prices of medications will increase because of dependence on China, among others. The lack of raw materials and more expensive transportation will make imports more expensive.