NOSGP with patient
Coen Nij Bijvank
editor Nieuwsuur
Coen Nij Bijvank
editor Nieuwsuur
Dutch people will pay almost ten percent more for their health insurance next year. The government expects that the premium for basic insurance will increase by 12 euros per month, to an average of 149 euros.
The ever-growing healthcare costs invariably led to political debate, including last week. But how bad is the cost increase? Compared to other Western countries, the Dutch do not spend exceptionally much on healthcare. Experts do say: be careful with unnecessary treatments.
Healthcare is the cuckoo’s baby of the government budget: costs are only increasing and crowding out other investments.
Sjoerd Repping, professor of sensible care
That we are spending more and more on healthcare, is confirmed. In 2000, the Dutch healthcare system cost 45.4 billion euros, in 2021 that was 124.7 billion euros. Almost a threefold increase.
But: everything is getting more and more expensive and the economy is getting bigger. So if you want to say something about the growing healthcare costs, it is better to look at those costs as a percentage of the gross domestic product, the value of what the Netherlands earns in a year.
Nieuwsuur / CBS
You see: nowhere near a tripling. But an increase from 10 to 14.5 percent is still significant. And health care spending will likely continue to rise, experts say. “Healthcare is the cuckoo’s baby of the government budget; costs are only increasing and are therefore pushing out investments in climate and education,” says professor of sensible care Sjoerd Repping (University of Amsterdam).
Other experts find this development less problematic. The cost increase is also a good sign, said internist and professor of medicine Marcel Levi (Amsterdam UMC). News hour. “In the worst disaster scenario, healthcare expenditure will grow up to 18 percent of the gross national product. For a developed and civilized country like the Netherlands, how bad is that really?”
“The biggest driver of healthcare costs is new, better treatments for patients with heart disease, cancer, neurological diseases and for children who cannot hear and therefore do not have speech development. Those new therapies, those new surgeries, those new medications – they are expensive. And that drives up healthcare costs.”
Second most expensive healthcare system
Patrick Jeurissen, professor of affordability of care at Amsterdam UMC, agrees with Levi. “As long as costs do not rise too quickly and contribute to health gains, the health care system is perfectly sustainable.”
Moreover, healthcare costs rose rapidly at the beginning of this century, but since 2012 “actually only slightly”, says Jeurissen. “In 2012, the Netherlands had the most expensive healthcare system in the world after the United States. We now rank eighth in the OECD.” The OECD is an economic partnership of 38, mainly rich, countries.
Nieuwsuur / OECD
The Netherlands will rise again in the international rankings “in the next ten or fifteen years”, Jeurissen expects. “We have a very aging-sensitive healthcare system; our long-term care is among the most expensive in the world. And compared to other rich countries, the Netherlands is still at the beginning of this aging process.”
Levi also recognizes this. “Health care costs are partly driven up because we are all getting older and need more care.”
But, says Levi, who is also chairman of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, the biggest driver of healthcare costs remains medical progress. And quite a lot of money can go there, he thinks. “Even if healthcare expenditure reaches 18 percent of GDP, there will be plenty of money left over to invest in education and new roads. We should not be so doom-mongering about that.”
Onzinzorg
Professor Repping makes a major comment on this. “Of course, if it benefits people, it is good to spend money on it. But we do not have infinite money and certainly not infinite staff.”
According to him, there is a lot to be gained by stopping care that has been proven not to work. As chairman of Care Evaluation and Appropriate Use at the Healthcare Institute, he fights against this type of ‘nonsense care’. “We also do not know whether patients benefit from more than half of the care.”
Out of habit, we often continue with unproven treatments or remedies. If doctors have doubts about effectiveness, Repping says, standard research should be conducted. “Then care will be better and you will keep costs in check.”
Levi also sees this as a problem. “We now have a system in which the healthcare providers apply: the more you do, the more money you get. This leads to a lot of care that may not be suitable for the patient at all.”
Professor Jeurissen advocates a more conscious healthcare policy. “In 2017, the government suddenly invested billions in nursing homes, but now this is being partly scrapped again. And we now have to repair previous cuts in youth care and that costs unnecessary extra money. We must take more account of the development of diseases and not be afraid to move money from the budget for child care to elderly care, for example.”
2023-09-24 05:00:01
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