Families with money problems are increasingly avoiding maternity care because they can no longer afford the help related to pregnancy. The personal contribution of 4.70 euros per hour appears to be too much for the minimum, according to those involved in maternity care.
Due to sky-high inflation and rising energy costs, maternity nurse Janny Witvoet of Kraamzorg Janny & Paulien from Emmen sees the number of hours she provides care decrease. “But that’s not the biggest problem,” she says firmly. “We are concerned that you cannot offer people the help they need. I have never experienced anything like this.”
Anyone who receives maternity care and is not supplementary insured must pay a personal contribution of EUR 4.70 per hour. According to the KNOV professional association of midwives, this involves an average of 43 hours of maternity care, which increases the costs to more than 200 euros. On top of that are personal contributions for the NIPT test and possible outpatient birth. In total, a pregnant woman has lost the sums of more than 800 euros, according to the KNOV.
It leads to avoidance of care, notes the professional association. Together with Bo Birth Care, the NVOG gynecologists’ association and the Dutch Patients’ Federation, a letter was therefore sent to the House of Representatives in June in which the organizations called on the organizations to abolish personal contributions to maternity care. Pregnant women in vulnerable situations suffer the most from personal contributions, they say. They have the RIVM on their side: the health institute recommended in 2020 that the personal contribution be deleted in a report.
The maternity nurses of Janny & Paulien in Emmen see harrowing situations behind the front door. Janny: “If people are really having a hard time, we initially pay the personal contribution for them. We then agree monthly installments to pay it back. People also ask us whether the maternity carer can bring her own bread, because she simply can’t miss it.”
Maternity care providers state that maternity care is essential for the health of mother and child. Maternity carers also identify possible other problems and can inform care providers about the family situation.
Incidentally, the problems do not appear to be the same everywhere. For example, maternity carers elsewhere in the province say that they have not noticed anything about care avoiders yet. Nevertheless, the KNOV is disappointed that politicians have not yet followed the advice of the RIVM. “But it is good that attention is now being paid to this,” says a KNOV spokesperson. “We hope that the minister will still tack.”