Healthcare costs are skyrocketing and the quality of our healthcare is under pressure. If we do nothing, a Dutch person will pay no less than 16,000 euros in healthcare in 40 years’ time: almost three times as much as is currently the case. A quarter of our total economy will then be spent on health care.
This is evident from figures from the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). According to WRR council member and professor Marianne Visser, politicians must make sharp choices to curb expenditure. It is an unsustainable situation.
Healthcare premium to 333 euros per month
What does the growth in healthcare expenditure mean for the healthcare premium that we pay to the healthcare insurer every month?
Zorgwijzer made a quick calculation:
In 2021, healthcare costs will amount to approximately 6,000 euros per Dutch person per year (see bar chart below). Of this, almost 1,500 euros is a healthcare premium, or about 25 percent of the total amount.
Do we extend this line to 2060? Then the healthcare costs amount to 16,000 euros per Dutch person per year. A quarter of that is 4,000 euros, or 333 euros in healthcare premiums per month for basic insurance.
The remaining part of the healthcare costs will have to be paid through personal contributions and income-related premiums. It is inevitable that they will increase in the long term.
2022
Next week, during Budget Day, more will become clear about the healthcare costs and healthcare premium in 2022. It is still unclear exactly how much the premium will increase.
DSW is the first insurer to announce the premium for next year. This will happen sometime during the week of September 27.
Our health insurance 2022 page contains an overview of the latest news.
Aging and chronically ill
According to the WRR, the aging population and an increase in the number of chronically ill people are the main causes of the rapidly rising costs of healthcare.
The group of elderly people is growing, but at the same time it is also getting older. It is growth upon growth of the costs that this entails
Koen Kuijper (Care Guide)
But there are also other signals that result in an increase in spending:
- Technological development is driving up the demand for care
- Use of youth care and basic mental health care is increasing sharply
- There is a deteriorating lifestyle among certain population groups
Due to the ever-increasing costs, there may also be less money for other important goals, such as climate, security and education.
Shortage of healthcare workers
Still, the problem is bigger than a budget issue. A lot of new staff has to be hired in order to meet the increasing demand for care. In the 1970s, about seven percent of the working population worked in healthcare. That has now increased to more than 15 percent.
If the upward trend is continued, millions of healthcare workers will have to be added in 40 years. In 20 years’ time, one in four will be working in healthcare, in 40 years’ time one in three.
Such a massive shift in the workforce is not without risk. It can lead to problems in the labor market, because scarcity arises in other sectors.
According to the WRR, it would be good if more healthcare personnel were brought in from abroad.
A lot of care will soon no longer be reimbursed
The WRR believes that something must be done to cope with an explosion in healthcare costs. We need ‘sharp choices’ about the coverage of our health insurance. Politics should actually prepare the Dutch that not everything will be reimbursed soon, because the costs are simply too high. Citizens are also asked for more solidarity.
Many treatments automatically flow into the insured package, but almost nothing goes out. The outflow needs to be given much more attention.
Marianne de Visser (Professor and Council member WRR)
According to the WRR, an independent supervisor should check per treatment whether it produces health benefits and whether it is not too expensive. It is then up to health insurers to ensure that the care is provided as efficiently as possible.
Sensitive issue
The views and advice of the WRR are currently very sensitive in politics in The Hague. Many parties want to invest heavily in healthcare and further increase salaries in healthcare. Some even go so far that things such as physiotherapy and dental care have to be reimbursed from the basic package. The question is where to pay for it.