Junior health minister Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten says she is prepared to soften her stance on cuts to personal care budgets ahead of Thursday evening’s debate on the subject.

The move follows criticism from parliament and the release of figures from the government’s macro economic policy advisory group CPB showing her plans will lead to the loss of at least 4,000 jobs and will only generate negligible savings.
Van Zanten wants to stop 117,000 elderly and handicapped people claiming money to spend on personal care and to make them ask their local council, healthcare insurer, friends and family for help.
She is now offering to set up a separate budget within the state health insurance policy (AWBZ) to provide compensation to people for healthcare they have received. There will be strict rules governing the payouts, the Telegraaf reports her as saying.