A group of pharmacists in Amsterdam are going to court this week to try to force health insurance firms to increase their payments, the Volkskrant reports on Monday.

It is the first time healthcare providers have resorted to the legal system in an effort to solve their differences over fees, the Volkskrant says.

The legal case centres on the Achmea insurance group which has started paying pharmacists a price it thinks is reasonable for drugs, regardless of the price which the pharmacists have actually paid.

Contracts

The pharmacists accuse the insurance company of breaking its contract with them. They also argue that it is wrong for a health insurance company to have such a powerful stranglehold on the price paid for healthcare in general.

Health minister Edith Schippers said last week she considers forcing down prices to be a primary job for health insurers.

But healthcare providers – from hospitals to physiotherapists – say health insurers now have so much power they are being forced to accept unfair contracts.

Bankrupt

Achmea has 75% of the Amsterdam market. ‘If I don’t accept Achmea’s terms, then I will go bankrupt on the spot,’ Amsterdam pharmacist Henny Atta told the paper. ‘And if Achmea insists on paying below cost price, I will go bankrupt as well.’

It is not realistic to expect individual pharmacists to try to negotiate lower fees with drugs companies, he says. ‘I am now providing patients with medicines which I make a loss on,’ he said.

Achmea said in a reaction that the job of a health insurer is to keep premiums as low as possible.

Earlier stories
Health insurers squeeze physiotherapists, but will premiums go down?