Insurers must clarify which healthcare providers they will cover in 2024: Consumer group

All health insurers in the Netherlands must announce their premiums for the upcoming year by November 12. In principle, they should also have finalized their contracts with health providers by that date. But many health insurers have missed the deadline, leaving Netherlands residents unsure about which insurers cover their doctors, Consumentenbond told the Telegraaf.

As of today, for example, Zilveren Kruis signed contracts for 2024 with less than half of the hospitals in the Netherlands. VGZ only has contracts with 14 percent, according to the consumers’ association. The health insurers also missed this deadline last year.

“This is mandator insurance that you have to take out. Insurers are asking customers to sign blindly. Because how can you choose suitable health insurance if essential information is missing,” Sandra Molenaar of the Consumentenbond told the newspaper. The consumer’s association has asked the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) to intervene.

Signing up for health insurance without knowing which healthcare providers are in their network can have significant consequences, the Dutch Patient Federation told De Telegraaf. “If you have a budget policy and you want to see a practitioner without a contract, you often have to pay part of the costs yourself,” a spokesperson said.

The NZa told the Telegraaf that November 12 is not a hard deadline for healthcare contracting because “that could disrupt the negotiations.” But the regulator also believes that this should happen faster and better. It published a new guideline in July to achieve these improvements. “So far, contracting seems to be going more smoothly than last year.”