Dutch voters want government to handle health care, not insurers

Dutch voters have little confidence in the country's current healthcare system, which was implemented 11 years ago. 57 percent of voters want the government to take back control of healthcare instead of insurers, according to a study Ipsos did for Dutch newspaper Trouw.

The study also revealed that the Dutch are less critical of healthcare deductibles than political parties' election campaigns would suggest. If it means that the healthcare premium will in crease, only one in three Dutch would vote for abolishing own risk deductibles. In politics the opposite is true - many parties added getting rid of the healthcare deductibles to their election campaigns, and hardly any want to reorganize the healthcare system, according to the newspaper.

The only group that still has confidence in the insurers having control of the healthcare system, is SGP voters.

Ipsos questioned 1,000 Dutch voters about the healthcare system. According to the newspaper it is a representative sample of the Dutch population. With the parliamentary elections coming up next month, Ipsos also checked to see how voters' answers correspond to their party of preference.

According to Ipsos, many right-wing voters are sympathetic to leftist positions. For example, the SP plan for a "national care fund" can count on support from VVD voters - 48 percent of VVD voters answered "yes" to the question of should there be a national care fund. 59 percent of CDA voters are in favor of the government regulating healthcare instead of insurers, while the CDA was a driving force behind the current system.