EXCLUSIVE. Former top official RIZIV reveals how doctors are under pressure from health insurance funds: “Explosion of 576,000 long-term ill people is no coincidence”

Never before have there been so many long-term sick people in our country. Last week it was announced that this already concerns 576,000 Belgians. The health insurance funds have to answer for this in parliament today, but former top civil servant and doctor Roger Toelen (69) is already opening up. “The record is no coincidence,” he says firmly. He was active at a high level at the National Health and Disability Insurance Agency (RIZIV) for almost 30 years and reveals for the first time how better control of the long-term ill was blocked for years. “A doctor sat in tears in my office because he could no longer handle the pressure from the health insurance fund.”

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