Health Min. pushed to investigate “vague” insurance policies

Coalition parties VVD and PvdA are pushing Health Minister Edith Schippers to make sure that citizens do not fall victim to "vague" health insurance policies, the Telegraaf reports. Many insurers are still negotiating with health care providers on the policies for 2016. This means that a patient that takes out a policy now, does not know about all the conditions for next year. In such a case it may happen that he may not be able to go to the doctor or hospital of his choice, while this was still possible when he signed up for the policy. According to PvdA parliamentarian Lea Bouwmeester, a health insurance policy must not be allowed to be different to what the insured expected because that "smacks of deception". She sees two possible solutions. The Dutch healthcare authority NZa should make sure that at the very least the new policies provide the same benefits for next year as they did this year. Another option is to give policy holders longer time to switch policies. Policy holders currently have six weeks at the end of the year to change insurance companies. Bouwmeester wants this period to only start once there is complete clarity on all policy conditions.