The last of the bigger Dutch health insurance companies published their 2014 charges on Tuesday, with cuts of around €10 a month.

CZ and Menzis’ basic policies will cost €95.90 and €95.50 a month plus the standard own-risk payment of €360. This is in line with developments at other insurance firms.

Insurers say the cuts have been made possible because they have been able to buy-in care services more cheaply and medicine prices are going down.

Add-on

The government determines the contents of the basic package and health insurance firms are free to experiment with top-up and add-on policies. Policyholders can also opt to increase the own risk element to €860 a year in return for lower premiums.

Health insurers publish their annual fees at this time of year because of the six-week change-over period, allowing people to move to a new insurer.

Since the insurance system was reformed in 2006, some 3% to 4% of people swap insurer during the change-over window at the end of the year.

Some 95% of the market is in the hands of four big combines: CZ, Menzis, Achmea and VGZ/Univé.

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