Since the coverage provided by Dutch basic health insurance is relatively restricted, plenty of people choose to take out additional health insurance in the Netherlands to cover other medical costs.
What is additional health insurance?
Also known as supplementary health insurance (aanvullende verzekering), additional health insurance is - as the name suggests - a kind of supplement to the coverage provided by the basic, compulsory healthcare package.
This is where private health insurance providers compete to offer policies that are best tailored to your health needs and lifestyle. Depending on the insurer, additional health insurance might be offered either as a separate policy or as add-ons to the basic package that can be mixed and matched to create a policy that meets your needs.
Unlike basic health insurance, additional health insurance is not obligatory. You are free to choose whether or not you want (or need) it.
Additional health insurance providers in the Netherlands
These insurers all offer additional health insurance in the Netherlands, either as separate policies or as add-ons to their basic packages:
Dutch health insurance comparison
You can use Zorgwijzer (website in English) or Independer to compare both basic and additional health insurance packages in the Netherlands.
Additional health insurance coverage
The major benefit of additional health insurance is that it can be tailored to suit your exact needs. Health insurance companies typically offer a wide variety of optional add-ons, which may be fully or only partially covered by your additional insurance. For example:
- Dental care for adults over the age of 18, including dentist check-ups, fillings, hygiene, cleaning and dental implants
- Emergency healthcare for travel abroad
- Alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture, chiropractic treatments, osteopathy and homeopathy
- Vaccinations
- Contraception
- Glasses and contact lenses
- Hearing aids
- Plastic surgery
Cost of additional health insurance
Additional health insurance is paid via a set monthly premium. Premiums can be as low as a few euros per month, depending on what is included.
No eigen risico applies to additional health insurance. However, depending on your health insurance company and your specific policy, you might be asked to pay a portion of the costs for certain treatments. Again, these payments do not count towards your eigen risico calculation; only costs that you pay towards treatments covered by basic health insurance are included.
Taking out supplemental health insurance in the Netherlands
To take out supplemental health insurance in the Netherlands, you can compare quotes from health insurance companies and then pick the one that best suits your needs. Note that you do not necessarily need to have your basic health insurance and your additional health insurance with the same provider.
Since additional health insurance is not mandatory, health insurance providers are not obliged to accept your application for coverage. They retain the right to refuse to insure you and are allowed to ask you for details about your health and medical history. Some might ask you to get a medical check before agreeing to insure you.
Changing Dutch additional health insurance
While you have the freedom to change your basic health insurance once per year, your additional health insurance package might come with special conditions like minimum contract terms. If you want to change your insurer, check your policy documents to see your provider’s cancellation terms.