b. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Health care is a part of the total politics of a country. It always involves political choices. The general principle of Dutch health care is "equity and solidarity". This means that traditionally there is a broad support for sharing the financial burden of health care, while at the same time it is believed that health care should be accessible for every one who is in need of care. This principle is translated into the fact that most health care payments are income related.
Another principle of Dutch health care is that decisions are negotiated upon and that these are made on a consensus base. This feature is embedded in a long history of health policy. It means that the decisions are shaped by the interaction between government and organized interest groups (hospital organizations, organization of medical specialists, insurance companies, home health care organizations, organization of general practitioners, etc.).
