Health insurance companies are making a loss on their basic policies because they are not charging high enough premiums, the NRC said on Thursday.

The four biggest companies, which control 90% of the market, put a combined €1.8bn into subsidising cheap policies last year, the equivalent of 5% of their turnover, the paper said.

The NRC bases its claims on an analysis of their financial reports.

Health insurers had been under fire for boosting their reserves to unnecessarily high levels.

Subsidies

Insurer CZ, which is number three in the Dutch market, says it ‘gave back’ €165 to its clients in the form of lower premiums. VGZ ‘subsidises’ its clients to the tune of €10.60 a month.

The chairman of market leader Achmea said earlier this year that the current low premiums would not be sustainable in the long term.

The government decides what should be included in the basic health insurance policy and publishes pricing guidelines but it is up to health insurance companies to set their own fees.