Labour Senator's "serious illness" led to "no" vote on health bill

Adri Duivesteijn, one of the three PvdA senators who voted against Minister Edith Schippers' (Public Health) healthcare legislative proposal and thus brought the Cabinet to the brink of collapse, is seriously ill. The question is whether his illness had something to do with his vote. On Tuesday Duivesteijn voted against the law that stipulates that patients, such as himself, can not choose the physician of their choice. At least if they had chosen a simple and low-cost health insurance. The image forms of a man who has nothing to lose and therefore drops the Cabinet. The fact that Duivesteijn, like his colleagues Linthorst and Ter Horst, will not be returning to the Senate, adds to the image. With a retweet of former NOS boss Hans Laroes, Duivesteijn hinted about what he thinks of this image. "Voting against restriction free choice of doctor is mainly analyzed from a political perspective. But perhaps there is something to say about the content." This is the second time in a year that Duivesteijn has the fate of the Rutte II Cabinet in his hands. In both cases he was accused of playing political games and in both cases Duvesteijn tried to make clear that he cares about the content and that the content touches him deeply. It has long been clear that Duivesteijn is a cross and wayward politician. "But Adri always played rough music", says former corporation director and PvdA member Jim Schuyt. "But he kept his flag and all government plans went through as usual." But now Duivesteijn is at the end of his career. "He does not have to continue within his party. He has nothing to lose." "Adri is a power politician, but also content-driven", says Staf Depla, Eindhoven alderman and "political friend".