Most political parties want to scrap plans for cutting healthcare deductible to €165
Most political parties want to reverse plans announced by the Schoof I Cabinet to cut the healthcare deductible in half, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) found when analysing the election programs submitted to it, NOS reports.
The CPB calculated the plans in the election programs of GroenLinks-PvdA, VVD, NSC, D66, BBB, CDA, SGP, CU, Volt, and JA21. Except for GroenLinks-PvdA, all these parties want to scrap the plan to reduce the healthcare deductible from €385 per year to €165 per year.
The VVD, CDA, JA21, and Volt want to increase the deductible even further, to €440 per year. These parties also want to increase the contribution for long-term care and stop including new treatments in the basic health insurance package. The latter measure will eventually generate €7.7 billion.
Led by the PVV, the current Cabinet decided to halve the deductible to €165 per year, effective January 2027. The Council of State warned that this would increase pressure on the healthcare system and increase health insurance premiums by €200 per year. Two-thirds of Netherlands residents are also against the plan to cut the deductible.
GroenLinks-PvdA is the only party that doesn’t plan to cut healthcare costs, but increase them even further. However, unlike other parties, GroenLinks-PvdA has only included increased defense spending until 2030. So their program includes fewer cuts to cover that extra expense.
A big question in recent months has been how the political parties would raise over €6 billion by 2030 to pay for the higher NATO contribution. According to the election programs, the parties are considering VAT increases, hiking the state pension age, taxing capital and profits more, and cutting development cooperation budgets.
The CDA wants to slightly increase both VAT rates. The SGP wants to scrap the low VAT rate for hospitality businesses. Volt proposes a single VAT rate of 19 percent.
VVD, SGP, JA21, and Volt want to increase the state pension age further, raising money for defense by saving on state pension benefits. The exact amount varies. The VVD, SGP, and JA21 want to increase the state pension age by a few months, Volt by an entire year.
Several parties want to raise money by taxing capital and profits more. GroenLinks-PvdA, D66, ChristenUnie, and Volt want to shift the tax burden from labor to assets. JA21, VVD, and BBB, among others, do not want to impose additional wealth and profit taxes. Instead, these three parties are planning major cuts to the development cooperation budget.
The election programs also elaborated more on how the parties want to phase out the mortgage interest deduction. GroenLinks-PvdA and D66 want to phase out the deduction over 12 years, ChristenUnie over 15 years, and CDA over 30 years. Volt is the only party that wants to phase it out within the next Cabinet term, so over four years.
