Costs and Insurance

The basic health insurance package pays for things like:

• Common treatments by GPs.
• Medical specialists and midwives.
• Your stay in hospital.
• Medicines.
• Medical devices.
• Community nurses.

There are also deductibles (Dutch: eigen risico), which you must usually pay yourself.

• Read more about exactly what the basic package pays for at www.rijksoverheid.nl.

Most hospital treatments are included in your insurance. Treatments are only covered if you have a valid referral, for example from your GP. You also need to know whether:

• Your insurance is a contracted care policy (Dutch: naturapolis) or a non-contracted care policy (Dutch: restitutiepolis).
• Your treatment is covered by your insurance.
• Your health insurance provider has a contract with the hospital you want to go to. Ask your insurance provider about this.

Non-medically necessary care is not included in the basic insurance package. This care includes things like plastic surgery and sterilisation. You must pay for these treatments yourself, unless you have extra insurance that pays for them.

Would you like to know exactly what your insurance will and will not pay for? Check the terms and conditions of your health insurance policy. You can also contact your health insurance provider for more information.

Everyone above the age of 18 must pay part of the care costs that are included in the basic package. These costs are called deductibles. For 2021, the deductible limit is €385. This means that you pay the first €385 of the healthcare costs that are included in the basic package.

You do not have to pay deductibles for all medical costs. There are no deductibles if you go to your GP or use maternity care, for example.

• Read more about deductibles on the government’s website.

There are no deductibles when you visit your GP or the out-of-hours medical service. You do pay deductibles when you go to Emergency care. 

We refer to treatments as ‘DTC care products’. DTC stands for ‘diagnosis-treatment combination’. You pay deductibles for the year in which you start your treatment.

For example: your DTC care product starts in November 2021 and ends in February 2022. We then calculate the costs that you pay based on how much of your deductibles for 2021 you have already used.

Sometimes a treatment includes more than one DTC care product. If one of these DTC care products starts in another year (for example in 2022), the costs that you pay for that treatment will also be based on your deductibles for that year (2022).

• Read more about your hospital bill on the Dutch Healthcare Authority’s website.

Yes, the hospital can give you an estimate of the costs. At the top of this page, there’s a price list. These are the prices that you pay if you’re not insured. The list can give you an idea of how much your treatment will cost.

You must also pay these prices if your insurance provider does not have a contract with our hospital. If your insurance provider does have a contract with us, the price is usually lower.

The price also depends on the tests that you have and on the doctor’s diagnosis. That’s why it’s difficult for us to say exactly how much your treatment will cost beforehand.

Most hospital treatments cost more than the deductible limit. This means that, when you go to hospital, you will often use up all your deductibles for that year.

The cost of a treatment is the average cost. This means that a patient who needs one X-ray pays the same price as a patient who needs four X-rays. Our prices also include other costs, like:

• Accommodation.
• Equipment.
• The average costs of common tests.

After your treatment is finished, you may have to pay some costs for your hospital stay yourself while you wait for a spot at another care facility. The amount you have to pay depends on your income. If you want to know how much you will have to pay yourself, you can ask the Central Administration Office for Exceptional Medical Expenses (CAK). Their website is www.hetcak.nl. The CAK will send you the bill for the amount you must pay.

The bill for your treatment includes these words and codes:

• DBC-zorgproduct (DTC care product)
• Startdatum/begindatum (start date)
• Einddatum (end date)
• Aantal zorgactiviteiten (number of care activities)
• Zorgactiviteit (care activity)
• Uitvoerdatum zorgactiviteit(en) (date of care activity/activities)
• Consumentenomschrijving bij het DBC-zorgproduct (description of the DTC care product)
• Declaratiecode (expenses code)

There’s an explanation of these codes and words on the Dutch Healthcare Authority’s website.

If you have questions about your healthcare bill, please contact our Care Administration department (088 250 6404). They’re available from Monday to Thursday, from 8:00 to 16:00, and on Friday from 8:00 to 12:00. You can also send an email to [email protected].

Yes, our Care Administration department can send you a copy of the bill. You can call them on 088 250 6404 from Monday to Thursday, from 8:00 to 16:00, and on Friday from 8:00 to 12:00. You can also send an email to [email protected].

Sometimes you may even get your bill more than a year after your treatment. There are national rules about paying for treatments, or DTC care products. DTC stands for ‘diagnosis-treatment combination’.

These are the rules:

• A DTC care product must end within 120 days after it starts.
• After the DTC care product ends, the hospital must send the bill within one year. The hospital usually sends the bill within one month.
• The health insurance provider must pay the bill within 30 days.

We use the start date of your treatment to calculate how much we should charge your health insurance provider. This means that we send the bill to the provider you were with when your treatment started.

Are you thinking about switching to a different provider? Before you switch, find out if your new insurance policy gives you the coverage you need.

When we treat you, we don’t record the costs of every single scan, injection or procedure. Instead, we calculate your care based on ‘DTC care products’. DTC stands for ‘diagnosis-treatment combination’.

DTC care products are collections of procedures that are part of a specific treatment. For example, if you break your arm, the price is an average of all the costs to treat a broken arm.

• Read more about your hospital bill on the Dutch Healthcare Authority’s website.

Diakonessenhuis has signed contracts with every Dutch health insurance provider for 2021. These contracts cover almost all the care that is included in the basic package, plus a lot of additional care options.

If you have insurance, your treatment will almost always be covered. You should always check with your insurance provider to find out how much they will pay. This depends on your condition, your treatment and your insurance policy.

Yes, you can change your health insurance once a year. You must cancel your current insurance before 1 January, and you must sign up with a new provider before 1 February. Your new insurance will also cover the care that you used between 1 January and 1 February.