From now on, patients will have to pay a maximum of 150 euros of their excess for medical specialist care at a time. This is evident from the Friday published decision list of the Council of Ministers. For patients who undergo several treatments per year, the total deductible remains 385 euros per year.
The cabinet argues that people who have undergone an initial expensive specialist medical treatment are ‘incentivized to think’ for a longer period of time about the need for a second treatment. They may leave it, because otherwise they will have to pay another 150 euros. In the current system, this incentive is not there because patients of expensive treatments have already paid up the deductible in one go. They do not have to pay for the second treatment. Anyone who decides to stick to one treatment from now on will save money.
The government expects that approximately one million insured persons will pay an average of 100 euros less deductible than in the current situation. In addition, the cabinet assumes that the scheme will yield 200 million euros and thus ‘contribute to the affordability of care’. Minister of Health Ernst Kuipers (D66) will provide more detailed information about the new scheme at a later stage.
