c. FINANCING HEALTH CARE
In financing Dutch health care there are two main features: the first one is that Dutch health care is financed through various funding sources. The second important feature is that there is a mix of public funding and private provision of care: the government sees to it that there is money to provide the necessary care, but does not take care of the provision itself.
Types of health care funding:
- Health Insurance Act (33%). A majority of the Dutch population (65%) is compulsory insured under this Act.
- Exceptional Medical Expenses Act (32%). Payments for so called 'uninsurable risks'.
Benefits include long-term residential and nursing care for the elderly, comprehensive psychiatric care, home-based care, and comprehensive care for the physically and mentally handicapped.
- Private health insurances (15%). Everybody who is not covered by the Health Insurance Act can be insured by one of the many private-sector health insurance companies.
- The government (10%).
- Out-of-pocket payments by the patient (10%).
This division of financing by different sources can have implications when you want to change the provision of care: home care, for instance, is mostly paid for by the Exceptional Medical Expenses Act, while hospital care is mostly financed through insurance money. This is a source for problems in shifting care from the hospital to the home situation.
