The Dutch already paid that windfall last year. This is the case: in addition to a mandatory basic insurance for healthcare, every Dutch person with an income also pays an income -related contribution for healthcare costs that is withheld by the employer or is collected by the Tax Authorities. In 2025 that contribution was higher than necessary and therefore not all the money from the health insurance fund was drawn up.
Most Dutch people are not in favor of halving deductible in healthcare
This money is now being used to reduce the health insurance premium. A week and a half ago, De Telegraaf already reported that the calculation premium, the expected health insurance premium that the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport calculates, is therefore increasing from 156 to 159 euros with ‘only’ three euros per month. A limited increase compared to the years before, when the monthly premium often went up by ten.
© Marius Steenbergen
Other insurers later
In addition to this windfall that applies to all health insurers, DSW has also booked nice investment results about 2024, so that the insurer can use some extra money from the reserves to reduce the premium amount.
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The Schiedam health insurer is traditionally the first insurer to announce the premium for the mandatory basic insurance for the following year in the autumn.
It is not said that other insurers also keep their premiums the same, they will announce this by 12 November at the latest. But DSW’s new premium is usually a good indication of what the others are going to do.
Well in 2027 halving the compulsory deductible is planned. As a result, the health insurance premium is expected to increase around 200 euros a year. Was it not smart to take this into account in the 2026 premium?
De Groot: “We assume that this plan will be lifted over the elections. We do not expect the halving to continue in 2027. And whether it will continue afterwards, and how, that is all uncertain.”
Care avoidance
The compulsory deductible of 385 euros per year is a threshold for some of the insured persons to go to the doctor, De Groot acknowledges. “We see that about ten percent of our insured people leave a recipe or do not go to the hospital because they think: it costs me my deductible.”
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De Groot therefore believes that much more attention should be paid to the prevention of care. “But I miss actions and decisiveness of politics. And also from parties in healthcare itself. We have to let go of our own interest much more and see what is needed for society,” says De Groot.
DSW tries to take action in this, says the chairman of the board. “We have a regional program where we look together with municipalities and care providers what is needed. But that is still on a limited scale.”
Pass through
Really continuing is not possible, says De Groot. “Of the 2.5 billion euros that handles us, we only spend 1 to 2 percent on prevention.”
The insurer is hampered by the system, he says. “If we spend a lot of money on prevention, it would go well for eleven months, but in that last month if everyone is going to opt for the lowest premium, we will be punished by our insured persons, because then we have to request a much higher premium.”
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He therefore argues for structural change in which the health insurer who is greatest takes a region. “Just remove two to three billion from the care budget and make that available to the region. Let care offices spend this together with municipalities, care providers and welfare organizations to work on the health of citizens.”