Health insurance could cost you €177 more next year

Healthcare premiums are set for their biggest rise in 15 years after insurer DSW announced its premium will go up by €14.75 a month in 2027.

The basic insurance package, which is compulsory for everyone, will cost €173.50 per month, or €2,082 a year.

DSW is traditionally the first Dutch health insurer to publish its rates for the following year, but all companies tend to follow a similar line because the content of the basic package is prescribed by law.

The rise of 9.3% is the largest in percentage terms since 2011, when premiums went up by 10%.

“In the eight years I have worked here I have never seen such a big increase,” Aad de Groot, chair of DSW’s board of directors, told broadcaster NOS.

It is also more than the €12.50 estimated by the health ministry in its budget calculations for next year. The maximum health benefit (zorgtoeslag) is going up by €11 a month for people earning the minimum wage, meaning low earners will have to pay more out of their own pockets for health cover.

The excess, or deductible, on health insurance is also going up for the first time in a decade. From January patients will have to pay the first €400 for treatment covered by the basic plan, up from the current level of €385.

De Groot said the government had not taken into account cuts to mental health care, hospital care and care at home in its calculations. “The effect is that the state is paying less but individuals are paying more through their premiums,” he said.

People whose earnings are just above the threshold for government support will be hit hardest, he added. Some 200,000 people have fallen behind on their insurance payments, according to the CAK, the government agency that handles healthcare bills, up from 172,000 in 2022.

“We see a growing group of people who are struggling to pay their premiums,” De Groot said. “It is a painful increase, but we have no option but to do this.”

Insurers must publish their rates by November 12, after which Dutch residents have until the end of the year to decide whether to switch to a different insurer for 2027.