Healthcare group Rivas Zorggroep is in merger talks with a number of health insurers including Univé, reports Friday’s Volkskrant.

It is the first time such negotiations between a healthcare supplier and insurance firm have been held in the Netherlands, says the paper.
Rivas, which operates in Gorkum in the province of Zuid Holland, consists of a hospital, nursing and care homes and a home care service. Univé, created by the merger of three health insurers in 2007, is the country’s largest health insurer.
The Volkskrant says American healthcare group Kaiser Permanente is a model for the talks. It aims to keep its clients healthy and prevent high hospital costs by actively interferening when clients live unhealthy lives, the paper says.
Critics of the Rivas plan say this policy favours healthy clients. But in an interview with the paper to be published on Saturday, Rivas chairman Pieter de Kort says the practise has to be converted to the Dutch situation. ‘If you don’t lose those 20 kilos, we won’t cancel your insurance,’ he tells the paper.
Univé confirmed to the Volkskrant that it is taking part in talks but said it was too early to speak of a merger. A feasibility study is expected at the end of 2008.