Medical costs abroad getting Dutch into trouble

More Netherlands residents are not taking sufficient health insurance when they go on holiday. This summer, aid organizations are receiving more calls from Dutch abroad who suddenly have to pay thousands of euros because they need medical care and their insurance doesn’t cover it, AD reports.

“More and more people are opting for just basic insurance,” Bas van Haaren of SOS International, an aid organization abroad for various health and travel insurers, told the newspaper. “If you have insufficient insurance, you will only get the Dutch rate back. In many foreign countries, that is far from enough.”

For example, treating a broken leg in the Netherlands costs around 3,000 euros. In Spain, private clinic treatment costs some 30,000 euros. Treatment for acute appendicitis costs around 5,000 euros in the Netherlands and 20,000 euros in Spain.

“Of every ten reports we receive, at least one or two people only have basic insurance. We now receive messages every day from people who are not sufficiently insured.” This year, SOS International received 12 percent more reports from people with only basic insurance than last year.

Eurocross has also noticed an increase, a spokesperson told AD. “Last year during the high season, it happened several times a week that someone was not sufficiently insured. Now we receive a report every day.”

According to Koen Kuijper of the consumer organization Zorgwijzer, many people simply can’t afford the additional insurance anymore and go on holiday hoping for the best. “In two years, basic insurance has become no less than 19 euros more expensive per month. For a family of two adults and children, that is a significant increase in monthly expenses. That is why we see that people are looking for ways to cut costs, for example, by taking out less extensive supplementary insurance.”