Mandatory disability insurance could cost freelancers €195 per month

Mandatory disability insurance for self-employed people in the Netherlands will cost a maximum of 195 euros per month, according to a bill outgoing Minister Karien van Gennip of Social Affairs put online for public consultation.

The insurance will pay out 70 percent of the profit up to a maximum of the minimum wage. Freelancers who have been unable to earn the minimum wage for a year due to illness or disability are entitled to this benefit until they reach state pension age or become able to work again. Freelancers who want to arrange their own insurance or already have one can opt out of the mandatory insurance if their own insurance meets the conditions.

The Basic Insurance Act for the Self-employed has been in the making for years and is rather controversial. Freelancers fear that the premium will be too high for them to afford, or they feel that the government is interfering with their entrepreneurship.

Van Gennip argued that mandatory insurance is only fair, according to NOS. Employees are also subject to compulsory insurance, and uninsured freelancers who become unable to work now pass the financial consequences of that on to society, she argued.

“With this insurance, self-employed people can rely on a basic safety net in the event of disability, and people do not simply end up on social assistance with all the tests and exhausting their own assets as a result,” the outgoing Minister said. They also do not have to become dependent on their partner.

After this round of public consultation, Van Gennip will submit the bill to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, for handling.