Budget health insurance policies costing around €65 per month and launched with great fanfare at the end of last year have not proved popular with consumers, Trouw reports on Wednesday.

The Budgetbewust policy from Menzis, for example, attracted 10,000 clients, or just 0.5% of the total number of people with insurance. ‘We had expected more interest,’ a spokesman told Trouw.

UGZ/Unive said demand for its Zekurpolis had stagnated and blamed misconceptions about treatment options.

‘There were all sort of stories about people from Limburg having to go to Groningen for treatment,’ he said. ‘These are all nonsense. We have at least one hospital in every province and there are no restrictions on emergency care.’

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A VGZ spokesman told the Volkskrant the company’s more expensive policies had shown more growth

According to the Volkskrant, Achmea was the biggest loser in last year’s insurance changeover window with a 141,000 drop in customers. Nevertheless, the company says it remains the biggest in the market with 5.3 million policyholders.

In total, 800,000 people switched insurance company at the end of last year, compared with one million at the end of 2012.