Research shows that people in the Netherlands are overpaying for health insurance

More than half of the residents in the Netherlands paid over a hundred euros more than they should have for their health insurance last year, according to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) and the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa). The reason is because a wide range of health insurance packages are offered which either does not differ from competing offers, or barely differs from other products.

As a result, people struggle to understand the differences leading to the higher payments. That is why they usually miss out on cheaper alternatives when selecting their basic health insurance, the organizations said after conducting a joint study.

An average of 103 euros per insured person could have been saved last year, according to ACM and NZa’s calculations. The research from the two regulators also showed that some people have a more expensive basic health insurance than necessary because of a condition set by the insurance provider for more extensive additional coverage.

Offering the same policies for different prices, also known as premium differentiation, is banned in the Netherlands. However, sometimes insurance companies offer relatively minor variations, such as a difference of five percentage points in the reimbursement rate of non-contracted care.

In this case, a price differential still technically exists. Prices may also vary when insurance companies offer essentially the same policy under various brand names and subsidiaries owned by that company.

The ACM and NZa want the law on health insurance premium price differentials expanded, to prevent the oversupply of similar health insurance packages.