Insurance Cheaper After 1.4 Billion Profit

“Health insurance has to become cheaper after the providers made a profit of 1.4 billion euro last year,” said a representative of patient association NPCF on Thursday.

AD.nl reported that the Dutch organization for health insurers said that they expected price reductions in 2014, but that it was the decision of the individual insurers.

Insurers need to use part of the profit as a buffer to pay for the increase in the amount required to stay in the bank, as demanded by the Dutch Bank, de Nederlandse Bank.

The Minister of Public Health, Edith Schippers, said that prices would go down as a result of competition. If one insurer decides to decrease the premium but others do not, customers will switch.

In 2011, of the 500 million profit from insurance, 100 million euro went back to the customers in the form of a premium reduction.