Guide
What Dutch health insurance covers: the 2026 basic package, item by item
By Covered Abroad Research Desk · Last verified July 2026
The rule in writing
“Anyone insured by operation of law under the Wlz — in practice residents of the Netherlands, and non-residents taxed on employment performed there — must take out a Dutch zorgverzekering. Residence or Dutch-taxed work is the trigger, not nationality and not the residence permit. A non-working spouse who becomes resident is caught with no Dutch income at all.”
Official source: Zorgverzekeringswet Article 2(1), read with Wlz Article 2.1.1 — Last verified:
The rule in writing
“Dutch insurers must accept every insurance-liable applicant for the basic policy, at the same premium, regardless of age or health. Any claim that a private plan offers easier acceptance than the Dutch basic package is false.”
Official source: Zorgverzekeringswet Article 3 (acceptatieplicht) — Last verified:
One package, set by law, identical everywhere
The first fact reframes all the others: the Dutch basic package (basispakket) is set by the government, not by insurers. Every insurer sells the same compulsory basic policy with the same covered care; competition happens on price, service and supplementary extras — never on what the basic package contains. So "what does Dutch health insurance cover" has one national answer, and comparing insurers on basic coverage is comparing identical documents.
Two structural rules travel with it. Insurers must accept every applicant for the basic policy at the same premium regardless of age or health — the acceptatieplicht. And most covered care draws down the compulsory excess, €385 in 2026, with the exemptions called out below; our eigen risico guide covers that machinery.
Source: Rijksoverheid, what the basic package covers, read 26 August 2026.
Covered — and whether the excess touches it
From the government's own basic-package page:
| Care | Covered? | Draws the €385 excess? |
|---|---|---|
| GP (huisarts) care, incl. out-of-hours post | Yes, fully | No — never |
| Hospital stays, operations, emergency care | Yes | Yes |
| Medicines | Most | Yes, plus a co-payment only if you choose a pricier option |
| Mental healthcare (basic and specialist) | Yes | Yes |
| Midwifery (verloskundige zorg) | Yes | No |
| Kraamzorg (postnatal care) | Yes | No — but €5.70/hour own contribution at home |
| Dental, under 18 | Yes — check-ups and treatment | No |
| Dental, adults | Only surgical care and X-rays | Yes |
| Physiotherapy, adults | From session 21, listed chronic conditions only | Yes |
The GP row explains the Dutch system's whole shape: the gatekeeper is free at the point of use precisely because everything else runs through them.
Source: Rijksoverheid, what the basic package covers, read 26 August 2026.
60-second check
Not sure the policy you have meets your destination's written rule? Run it through the policy check now, before you build the rest of the file around it.
Check my policyNot covered — the three gaps everyone meets
The government's own exclusion list is short and expensive. Adult routine dental: check-ups, cleaning, fillings, crowns — none of it is in the basic package for adults; you self-pay the state-set tariffs (a check-up is €28.51 in 2026 — the full schedule is on our Dutch dentist costs page) or hold supplementary cover. The first 20 physiotherapy sessions for adults, with the chronic-condition exceptions. Ordinary glasses and contact lenses.
These gaps are the honest reason supplementary cover exists in the Netherlands — Dutch insurers sell aanvullende packages for exactly these lines, and international cover can sit in the same slot for movers who want benefits that travel beyond the Netherlands. What no product can do is replace the basic policy itself: anyone living or taxed on work in the Netherlands must hold one, bought from a Dutch insurer, with a four-month window that back-dates rather than forgives. The Netherlands hub carries that rule in writing.
Source: Rijksoverheid, what the basic package covers, read 26 August 2026.