DSW, usually the first to announce health insurance price, delays announcement over Covid costs

Health insurer DSW will postpone announcing its health insurance premiums for 2022. The company said it is not yet clear what the precise costs for Covid-19 care has been in recent months. DSW expects to have that data by the second half of October.

DSW traditionally announces the new rate one week after Prinsjesdag, the day the Cabinet releases its proposed budget for the coming year. The disclosure often serves as a guideline for the rest of the health insurers.

DSW will be compensated by the government for the costs of coronavirus-related care. The insurer will use that amount to cushion the increase of its health insurance premium for the following year, explained board chair Aad de Groot. "We do not yet have insight into the costs incurred after the second quarter, so we do not yet know how much we can absorb. It concerns a large amount: hundreds of millions."

Health insurers receive the data from the hospitals, and it is complicated determining what exactly falls under coronavirus care, and what does not. The hospitals are working on it, "but at the moment the information is just not there yet," according to De Groot.

He does expect that DSW will still be the first to announce its rate. "If we can't calculate it, other health insurers can't either," he said. The new healthcare premiums must be announced no later than November 12.