Health insurance premium plan awakens Liberal fury

Some 6,000 member of the VVD Liberal party have already lodged their objections to plans to hike health insurance premiums to almost €500 a month for higher earners, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Thursday.


The VVD’s website has been flooded with complaints about the new coalition’s plans to make health insurance premiums income-dependent. Everyone earning over €36,000 a year will pay more when the new measure comes into force in 2014.
VVD parliamentarians are meeting on Thursday afternoon, ostensibly to elect Halbe Zijlstra as the new parliamentary party leader. ‘There is a lot of steam being blown off,’ RTL political correspondent Frits Wester said.
Members
There has been considerable criticism of the plans from within the party itself.
Party stalwart Hans Wiegel has also been highly vocal in his criticism. The young Liberals (JOVD) issued a statement on Thursday describing the new plan as ‘unacceptable’ and ‘absurd’. And the VVD’s research bureau Teldersstichting says the measure is not fair and contradicts Liberal principles.
The Telegraaf newspaper has also launched a full-frontal attack on the plans, renaming the party leader and prime minister Marx Rutte.

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