LHV participated in the negotiations throughout the process, emphasizes Health Minister Ernst Kuipers and agrees with the agreements. According to him, there are only concerns about practical implementation. How the deals play out will be monitored, Kuipers says. LHV could not be reached for comment on Friday night.
The agreement, valid for the next four years, was very difficult to achieve. There have been a lot of negotiations in the last week. Only today the branch association for small entrepreneurs in home care and ActiZ, one of the largest sector organizations in the Dutch healthcare sector, agree.
Previously single chords
It was so difficult to find an agreement, because now all the changes in the whole health sector have been brought together in one agreement. “Four years ago, there were various agreements within a sub-area,” said health economics professor Wim Groot. previously against RTL News. “Then there was a separate agreement for the hospitals, one for the general practitioners, as you call it.”
There was little time on the negotiations because the agreements are intended to be presented in Prinsjesdag (Tuesday).
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To curb rising healthcare costs
With the health agreement, the Ministry of Health wants to keep the growth in health spending under control over the next four years. The Netherlands already spends 13 per cent of its national income on health care and well-being. Without intervention, this will rise to 19 or 21 percent, the Scientific Council for Government Policy calculated last year. One in six Dutch people now work in the healthcare sector. With these measures, the government wants to prevent this from rising to one in four.
VWS wants a total of € 1.3 billion less to spend on healthcare by 2026 than is currently planned. Spending will increase again, but at a slower pace.
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What will patients notice from this agreement?
While many chords have yet to be fine-tuned, some things are already clear.
- At the center is the concept of ‘appropriate care’: by organizing healthcare differently, the negotiating parties hope that healthcare will become more efficient and therefore less expensive. District nurses and general practitioners will be busier.
- But it also means that treatments whose effect is considered “unproven”, for example, will no longer be reimbursed by insurers. It remains to be seen exactly what treatments these are.
- In addition, hospitals will specialize: complex treatments, such as some oncology operations, will be performed in fewer places. This may mean that patients have to travel further for surgery.
- Patients will also more often have to knock on their GP’s door with their online application rather than their GP.
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