Plans by health minister Edith Schippers to allow health insurers to restrict patient access to approved providers will give them too much power, according to Dutch dentists’ association NMT.

The minister plans to allow insurers to refuse to pay for treatment carried out by practitioners not on their approved list.

Some 95,000 people have now signed a petition against the changes, which was handed over to the minister on Tuesday afternoon.

‘This will give health insurers too much power,’ an NMT spokeswoman told news agency ANP. ‘It means if your dentist does not agree with the health insurer’s terms, your treatment will no longer be paid for.’