Finance minister Hoekstra says in an interview with the AD that the rising costs of care cannot be sustained in the long term. Care is becoming more expensive year after year; so became in June We know that we spent 100 billion euros on health care in the Netherlands for the first time.
The Minister asked whether the increase can continue. “No, this growth in health care costs cannot be sustained in the long term and cannot be organized. You will have to look at: how do you spend the money wisely, while maintaining the beautiful aspects of our system?”
He praises the quality of our care in the newspaper. “Hospitals are world-class, healthcare is accessible to everyone. Compare that to America where people who are uninsured sometimes have rotten teeth in their mouths.”
Hoekstra is not the first minister who is concerned about it. The Cabinet, as well as the Rutte II Cabinet, has taken measures to curb the growth of costs. 1.9 billion euros per year must be saved through agreements with medical specialists, general practitioners and district nursing.
Deferred maintenance
All kinds of other topics are also covered in the interview with Hoekstra. For example, he says that under his leadership many investments were made that were “desperately needed” for society, because there was a lot of “overdue maintenance”. He also insists that the skate debt has been repaid by around 10 percentage points.
According to the minister, it is not necessary to cut back in the short term. But according to him, it is important that the economy grows faster in order to maintain “all those beautiful facilities” structurally. According to him it is for that investment fund that he wants to set up together with Minister Wiebes of Economic Affairs.
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