Visa-ready plans from $721 per adult, billed annually · see your exact price by age.
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
“The well-known "four months" is a retroactivity window, not a grace period. The obligation bites the day it arises; a policy taken out within four months back-dates to that day, so no gap exists and the intervening premiums are still owed.”
Official source: Zorgverzekeringswet Article 5(5) — Last verified:
How much is health insurance in the Netherlands?
The official number, and it is the only one worth quoting. Per rijksoverheid.nl, read 20 August 2026: the average premium people have to pay their health insurer in 2026 is €1,884, which is on average €157 per month. That is the nominal premium for the compulsory basisverzekering.
You will see ranges quoted elsewhere. The government does not publish one. That page says only that premiums differ per insurer and per policy, and it states no low-to-high figure as read on 20 August 2026, so anything narrower than the official average is somebody's marketing. Children under 18 pay no premium for the basic package at all.
The two costs that are easy to forget
The eigen risico. The compulsory own-risk excess for 2026 is €385, per rijksoverheid.nl. You pay the first €385 of qualifying costs yourself each year. It does not apply to huisartsenzorg, verloskundige zorg and kraamzorg, or wijkverpleging, and children under 18 pay none of it. Voluntarily raising it by €100 to €500 buys a lower premium.
The income-related contribution. Alongside the nominal premium there is an inkomensafhankelijke bijdrage under the Zvw, collected by the tax authority; for employees the employer remits it. Rates are published by the Belastingdienst rather than on the premium page, so check the current percentage there before you build a total-cost figure. We do not publish a rate we have not read.
Put together, the honest framing for a household budget is the €157 monthly average, plus up to €385 of excess in a year where you use qualifying care, plus a contribution set as a percentage of income. Our healthcare system page covers what all of that actually buys.
Where our cover fits, and where it does not
Before any price, the boundary. If you live in the Netherlands, or you are taxed on employment performed here, you are insured by operation of law under the Wlz and you must hold a Dutch zorgverzekering. Nothing on this page changes that, and our cover is not an alternative to it.
What the prices below are for: the wait on an IND decision, when Dutch cover cannot be bought at all; a study, Working Holiday or cultural-exchange permit while you are not working here; a posting run on a home-country A1 or Certificate of Coverage; and a top-up alongside the compulsory basic policy for the adult dental work, the first 20 physiotherapy sessions and the ordinary glasses and lenses that the basic package leaves out.
Our 2026 prices, by age
From age 18, Regency's 2026 EU-region rates start at $392 a year for Essential, $721 for Major Medical, $1,133 for Standard, $1,525 for Comprehensive and $1,906 for Fully Comprehensive. Prices are per person and rise with age, not with health, because there is no medical exam. The Netherlands sits inside the single EU rate region, so the figures are the same in Amsterdam as anywhere else we cover.
Here are three ages that fit this country's audience, shown as the annual price with the real monthly-billing instalment in brackets:
| Plan | Age 18 | Age 30 | Age 40 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | $392/yr ($38/mo) | $448/yr ($43/mo) | $589/yr ($57/mo) |
| Major Medical | $721/yr ($70/mo) | $823/yr ($80/mo) | $1,081/yr ($104/mo) |
| Standard | $1,133/yr ($110/mo) | $1,339/yr ($129/mo) | $1,804/yr ($174/mo) |
| Comprehensive | $1,525/yr ($147/mo) | $2,011/yr ($194/mo) | $2,475/yr ($239/mo) |
| Fully Comprehensive | $1,906/yr ($184/mo) | $2,513/yr ($243/mo) | $3,094/yr ($299/mo) |
Three ages rather than a full curve is deliberate: as read on ind.nl on 20 August 2026 the Netherlands publishes no retirement or passive-income residence route, and the former foreign-investor scheme has been abolished, so the realistic audience here is working age. Older ages are quotable and priced on the pricing page. Paying annually is the cheapest way to hold any of these plans; the monthly figures are real instalments carrying their own billing loading, not the annual divided by twelve.
Family pricing: children are a flat rate
Children aged 0 to 17 are priced flat, so the same figure applies at 2 as at 17 with none of the adult age curve:
| Plan | Child (0-17) |
|---|---|
| Essential | $308/yr |
| Major Medical | $566/yr |
| Standard | $853/yr |
| Comprehensive | $1,151/yr |
| Fully Comprehensive | $1,439/yr |
Worth pairing that with the Dutch side: children under 18 pay no premium for the basic package and no eigen risico, so a family's Dutch bill is the adults only. Price your own household by each person's age on the pricing calculator.
The expensive option is missing the deadline
If you are obliged to hold a Dutch policy, the cheapest thing you can do is buy one inside the four-month retroactivity window, because the policy back-dates and the gap closes. The alternative is priced by the state. Per hetcak.nl, read 20 August 2026, the CAK writes first, and if you have not requested a Wlz assessment or taken out basic insurance within three months of that letter the fine in 2026 is €529.74, indexed annually. Continued non-compliance leads to enrolment by the CAK, with twelve months of premiums withheld from income at 120% of the standaardpremie; the administrative premium for uninsured people is €172.70 a month for 2026.
And the part people miss: rijksoverheid.nl states that for the period in which you were not insured, you pay your own medical costs. The fine is not the exposure. The unpaid hospital bill is.
Next: check whether you are obliged at all, read how the IND stage differs from the Zvw stage, or work out your fit with best plan.
Honest limits: Cover is worldwide but excludes treatment in the United States. Pre-existing conditions are excluded, including conditions you did not know about. We disclose this before you request a quote. Consulates keep discretion, and requirements can change. We show the published rule and its source; the final decision is the consulate’s.