Recent Changes in Dutch Health Insurance

Kieke Okma
Adjunct Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, New York University

In 2006 the Netherlands implemented a new health insurance system that requires all citizens to buy health insurance from a regulated insurance company of their choice; insurers must accept all applicants; the government subsidizes children and low-income families. Recent Changes in Dutch Health Insurance analyzes the new Dutch system and considers whether it might serve as a model for the U.S. The working paper emphasizes some of the major differences between the Netherlands and the U.S., including the extensive role of the Dutch government in regulating the health sector and the egalitarian tradition in Dutch social policies.

Click here to download the full working paper, commissioned by a joint study panel of the National Academy of Social Insurance and the National Academy of Public Administration on Administrative Solutions in Health Reform. For a list of other papers and study panel members, click here. The project is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.