The healthcare council is to recommend that health insurance companies be allowed to charge smokers and people with unhealthy lifestyles higher premiums, Nos tv reports.

The council says people who take part in sport, take steps to reduce obesity and manage their own chronic conditions could also pay lower premiums.
And health insurance fees should also be higher for people on better incomes, Nos quotes the council as saying. This would prevent poorer people, who tend to be unhealthier, from bearing too much of the cost.

Demand
The report, due to be presented today, says making people pay more for unhealthy lifestyles is the only way to reduce the demand for healthcare and so keep a lid on spending.
Nos quotes council chairman Rien Meijerink as saying the Dutch health service rarely places demands on patients’ own responsibilities. And support for the current system of solidarity has dwindled he said. People are no longer willing to pay for their neighbour’s bad habits.
A report by the Dutch centre for disease monitoring in 2009 said over a third of Dutch healthcare costs are due to unhealthy behaviour.
Insurers
Health insurers told Nos they are not keen on the recommendation and want to maintain the current system of dividing the cost of healthcare equally between everyone.
Roger van Boxtel, chairman of healthcare group Menzis, told Nos introducing different premiums would damage the solidarity between young and old, and rich and poor. ‘That would be starting a dangerous debate,’ he said.
Health insurers said they also envisage lots of administrative problems.
Health minister Ab Klink has also said he does not agree with the recommendations, Nos said.
Should smokers pay more for health insurance? Take part in our poll