Why A Foreigner Needs To Use The Search Term Zorgverzekering Vergelijken

By Author: Gareth Hoyle
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If you are considering moving to the Netherlands on a permanent basis, one of the things you must sort out before you go is health insurance. To do this you will need to use the search term 'zorgverzekering vergelijken' which is Dutch for health insurance or healthcare comparison.

Exactly which foreigners need to buy health insurance is not 100% clear. All the law says is permanent residents, but whether a student studying a 4 year degree is considered permanent is not clear. So you have to check before you go.

An Overview of the Dutch Healthcare System Prior To 2006

Before 2006 if you moved to Holland most of your health care needs would have been taken care of by the government. The government collected taxes and used a percentage of that tax to pay for health care for those paid below a certain level. This part of the scheme was called SHI. If you were a high earner you could opt not to pay the tax for SHI instead taking out PHI. At the same time emergency cover was in place in the form of the AWBZ scheme for long term conditions insurance companies would not cover. The government paid the whole bill ...
... and covered every single person regardless of how much they were paid.

How the System Changed in 2006

However, in 2006 the Dutch government drastically changed the way in which they financed health care for citizens. They reverted to only paying for long term health care such as care for the elderly, care for the terminally ill and equipment for the disabled. Every citizen is covered in this way regardless of how much they earn. However, every Dutch tax payer is obliged to buy private healthcare insurance to pay for all other healthcare including doctor's visits, post natal care, rehabilitation etc.

This law applies equally to foreigners who move permanently to Holland and the company you buy from must be Dutch, so the search term zorgverzekering vergelijken is what you will end up using to find a health insurance provider.

Visit the Prijsvergelijken website before using the search term zorgverzekering vergelijken and ploughing through the results. There you get a good overview of the system and its current rules.