Health care insurance
Please make sure that you are insured for medical expenses during your time in the Netherlands.
All Dutch citizens are obliged by law to have basic insurance for medical expenses. International students are not automatically insured for medical assistance in the Netherlands. Before you come to the Netherlands, you need to make sure that you are properly insured against the costs of medical services.
There are three health care insurance possibilities:
a) Dutch public health care insurance
In certain circumstances, for instance if you take a part-time job or do a paid internship, you are obliged to have Dutch public health care insurance. Check this factsheet to find out whether the Dutch public health care insurance law applies to you.
b) Insurance in your home country that covers your stay in the Netherlands
The Netherlands has health insurance treaties with a number of countries, including most other European countries. If you’re insured under the national health insurance scheme of one of those countries, your insurance company can provide you with either an international declaration form or a European Health Insurance Card. Make sure that you bring this with you to the Netherlands, as you will need it if you see a doctor here.
c) A new or special insurance policy for your stay in the Netherlands
If your insurance in your home country doesn’t cover your stay in the Netherlands, and you can’t make use of an international treaty as described above, you will have to take out private insurance.
Erasmus University Rotterdam strongly recommends AON or IPS insurance. Both companies have a long and excellent history in the field of health care insurance for international students. Both companies also offer package deals, which cover other things like liability insurance and legal assistance.
Please note that if you take a job in the evenings or weekends, even if it’s for just one hour a week, you need to have the basic Dutch public health care insurance.
See the Study in Holland website for the most up-to-date information about health care insurance.
NB: If you are obliged to take out a Dutch public health care insurance (in Dutch: zorgverzekering) it is likely that you are eligible for compensation for your insurance costs. This compensation is called health care allowance. If you do not participate in the public health care insurance scheme (but you are insured via an independent policy with an insurer such as AON or Lippmann) you will not be eligible for health care allowance.
