Healthcare and housing emerged as one of the main themes in Wednesday night’s televised election debate between party leaders – two weeks ahead of the general election.

During the debate Labour leader Job Cohen accused prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende of planning to further liberalise healthcare and to allow private capital to invest in hospitals.
Market forces bring with them shortages and lots of bureaucracy, Cohen said.
Efficiency
But Balkenende argued that introducing competition leads to greater efficiency in healthcare and accused the Labour leader of planning to introduce a higher own risk element into health insurance, which Cohen denied.
The two Liberal leaders Mark Rutte (VVD) and Alexander Pechtold (D66), and GroenLinks’ Femke Halsema said they supported a higher own-risk.
At the moment, patients pay the first €165 of their annual healthcare bill.
Mortgages
Rutte also again said the VVD was committed to maintaining the current mortgage tax relief system which is one of the most generous in Europe.
But he refused to say if the party would make keeping the tax perk a core issue in coalition talks.
Pechtold said he would not join a coalition which refused to look at reforming the entire housing market, including the rent-controlled sector.
Winner
Panels and polls after the debate, which took place under tight security in Amsterdam’s Carré theatre, said Rutte emerged as the winner of the debate, but that Socialist leader Erik Roemer was surprisingly strong and a crowd pleaser with his relaxed approach.
Labour’s Cohen was again said to be uncomfortable.