Health care in the Netherlands

The family doctor is your first point of contact for almost every health problem. Register with a doctor near your home as soon as you have a place to live.

• Make an appointment by phone or online. Be on time, and cancel in advance if you cannot come, because some doctors charge for a missed appointment.
• A consultation is short, about ten minutes. Write down your questions and describe your complaint clearly.
• You need a referral (verwijzing) from the family doctor to see a specialist (specialist) or to go to the hospital for non-urgent care.
• Doctors have a duty of confidentiality (beroepsgeheim): they may not share your information without your permission.
• You may ask an interpreter or bring someone you trust if the language is a problem. Say so when you make the appointment.

Exam tip: Question pattern: “You have a stomach ache. Where do you go first?” Answer: to the family doctor, not straight to the hospital.

Everyone who lives or works in the Netherlands must take out basic health insurance (basisverzekering) with a health insurer (zorgverzekeraar). The insurer must accept you.

• You must take out insurance within four months of arriving or starting to work. If you wait longer, you owe the premiums backwards and may be fined.
• You pay a monthly premium (premie). You can choose your insurer and extra insurance (aanvullende verzekering), for example for the dentist or physiotherapy. The basic package is the same everywhere.
• Each year there is a deductible (eigen risico): you pay the first part of your care costs yourself. A visit to the family doctor is not charged to it.
• With a low income you can get a health care allowance (zorgtoeslag) from the Tax Authority.
• You can switch insurer once a year, until the end of December.

Knowing the right number to call matters. The right choice depends on how urgent the problem is.

• For a life-threatening emergency, call 112: ambulance, fire brigade or police. Say who you are, where you are and what happened. Calling 112 for a small problem is a misuse.
• For urgent problems in the evening, at night or at the weekend, you call the out-of-hours GP service (huisartsenpost) instead of your own doctor.
• The emergency department of the hospital (Spoedeisende Hulp, SEH) is for serious accidents and emergencies, usually after a referral or an ambulance.
• For poison or a medication mistake you can also contact the poison information centre or your pharmacy.

Exam tip: Question pattern: “It is Saturday night, your child has a high fever but is breathing normally.” Answer: the out-of-hours GP service (huisartsenpost), not 112.

Medicines come from the pharmacy (apotheek), usually on a prescription (recept) from your doctor. You can buy simple things such as paracetamol at a drugstore (drogist) or a supermarket.

• Take medication as the doctor or the leaflet says. Ask the pharmacist if you have questions; they are used to it.
• You go to a dentist (tandarts) twice a year for a check-up. Children’s dental care is covered by the basic insurance; adult dental care mostly needs extra insurance.
• For mental health problems you first talk to your family doctor, who can refer you to specialist mental health care (GGZ).
• Pregnant women are guided by a midwife (verloskundige), and after the birth maternity care (kraamzorg) helps at home.

Babies and young children (up to four years) go regularly to the well-baby clinic (consultatiebureau). It is free and part of youth health care (jeugdgezondheidszorg).

• At the consultatiebureau your child is weighed and measured, checked for development, and gets vaccinations from the national vaccination programme (Rijksvaccinatieprogramma).
• Vaccination is not compulsory by law, but it is strongly recommended and most children are vaccinated.
• At primary school age, the municipal health service (GGD) takes over with check-ups and further vaccinations.
• If you worry about your child’s development or behaviour, you can ask the consultatiebureau, the school or the family doctor for help.