Money worries damaging people's health, doctors say
The ever-increasing prices for food, energy, and other living expenses are starting to affect Netherlands residents’ health. General practitioners are increasingly seeing patients with complaints caused by stress, GPs said to newspaper AD.
Long-term money stress can trigger physical or mental complaints or make existing problems worse or persistent, the GPs said.
About one in five Dutch households struggles with problematic debts. “All general practitioners deal with it, but it is not always immediately clear that money worries are a factor in the medical problems with which people report to the doctor’s office,” said a spokesperson for GPs’ association LHV. “Increasing money problems can certainly lead to more visits to the general practitioner.”
The war in Ukraine, among other things, is pushing food, fuel, and energy prices higher and higher. Energy supplier Essent is increasingly concerned about its customers’ ability to pay their energy bills. One in three families will find themselves in financial difficulties within a few months due to the high gas and electricity prices, Essent said to De Telegraaf.
Currently, about 1 million households spend 10 percent or more of their income on energy. Essent expects that to increase to 2.5 million households within months. That puts them in energy poverty - spending so much on heat and electricity that other fixed costs become impossible to afford.
On Thursday, the parliamentary leaders of the four coalition parties will meet to discuss inflation and purchasing power ahead of official negotiations for next year’s budget. Sources close to the Cabinet told NOS that Sophie Hermans (VVD), Jan Paternotte (D66), Pieter Heerma (CDA), and Gert-Jan Segers (ChristenUnie) agreed before the summer recess to get together around this time.
Official talks on the national budget for 2023 will start next week after the Central Planning Office (CPB) releases its latest forecasts on the development of the Dutch economy and purchasing power for next year.
