Nearly all health insurance companies in the Netherlands are including a clause in their 2015 policies which allows them to send patients to a different hospital than the one which the patient has chosen, the NRC says on Monday.

The paper’s research shows most policies not only limit the choice of hospitals but now offer no guarantee at all that patients will be seen at the hospital they chose from this list. The contracts signed between insurance companies and hospitals are based on an annual budget and if the money has been spent, patients can now be forced to go elsewhere.

This increasing focus on limiting patient choice makes it increasingly important that insurance companies publish a list of healthcare providers they have agreed contracts with. Health minister Edith Schippers had said this should be published by mid November.

But the NRC’s research shows that even with this assurance, patients may not be allowed to go to the hospital of their choice. Insurance companies Achmea, CZ, Menzis and DSW all now state that if the budget has been spent, no more patients will be insured for treatment at given hospitals and other healthcare providers.

The senate is due to debate Schippers’ plans to allow a further erosion of patient choice on Tuesday. On Monday evening, 70 social and healthcare organisations are handing a petition to the senate calling on the upper house to reject the plans.

Bill

At the moment, health insurance companies are still required by law to foot up to 80% of the bill if a patient is treated in a hospital with which they do not have a contract. Schippers wants to remove that legal requirement.

Patient groups say this undermines the principle of solidarity between rich and poor and healthy and sick which is the basis of the Dutch healthcare system.