The health insurance choice of the Dutch consumer

Duration: 1 September 2024 - 28 February 2025 
Principal: EUR / ESHPM

Every year, Dutch consumers face a difficult decision: they need to choose which health insurance plan to select for the upcoming year.

Most insured individuals do not switch to a different health insurer, even though they may be paying unnecessarily high premiums (ACM, 2024). For example, in 2023, 61% of insured individuals could have saved an average of 103 euros per year by choosing a better-suited policy (Zorgkant.nl, 2024).

Researchers from the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Prof.dr. Marco Varkevisser, dr. Tim Benning, and Post-doc Sara Arts, are conducting important research into the health insurance choices made by Dutch consumers. They examine what factors drive consumers in their decision-making and how the current health insurance system influences consumer behavior.

In her postdoctoral project, Sara focuses primarily on better understanding the role that (task) complexity plays in the health insurance choices of Dutch consumers. Key questions she is trying to answer include: How difficult do consumers find making a health insurance choice, and what challenges do they face? Why do many consumers not switch insurers, even though doing so appears to provide financial benefits? How much time are consumers willing to spend searching for a different health insurance policy? And how do the answers to these questions differ for different groups of consumers (e.g., young vs. older consumers)?

Additionally, Marco and Tim recently researched the preferences of Dutch insured individuals for one- and multi-year health insurance policies using a discrete choice experiment. The research showed that a significant portion of Dutch insured individuals is willing to take out a multi-year policy. Want to learn more about the current developments of this research on multi-year health insurance policies? See this article and the sources at the bottom of this page.

Why is this research important?

The Dutch health insurance system is based on freedom of choice and competition. In theory, this should lead to a more efficient and affordable healthcare system. However, in practice, many consumers find it difficult to compare the different health insurance policies. Possible reasons include the large number of policies available, the often small differences between them, the large amount of information provided, and the difficulties in understanding this information. As a result, many consumers stay with their current insurer, even though cheaper and equally suitable alternatives may be available. The fact that consumers can also choose to take out supplementary insurance alongside their basic health insurance plan makes the process even more complicated.

The effect of this research

The results of the research are relevant for various stakeholders:

• Consumers will gain insights into how they can make better-informed choices.
• Health insurers will discover how they can better support consumers in making their health insurance decisions.
• Policymakers will gain insights to improve regulations around health insurance.

It would be beneficial if the health insurance landscape became clearer, so that consumers could more easily make the best choice without overpaying. Want to stay updated on the latest developments regarding this research? Follow the discussion via LinkedIn.