Reimbursements
The government determines which medicines are included in the basic package. These medicines are reimbursed by your health insurer. You can see which medicines these are on the website Medicijnkosten.nl . On this website, you can also see approximately how much a medicine costs
Whether (part of) the costs are charged to you depends on:
- your health insurer's policy;
- whether you have already used up your deductible;
- the personal contribution you may have to pay.
Health insurer policy
Multiple brands of a medicine are often available. Which brand will you be reimbursed for? This depends on the agreements between your health insurer and your pharmacist.
Sometimes the health insurer chooses which brand you receive. They designate one brand as the preferred product. Usually, this is the cheapest variant. The preferred product is reimbursed, while other brands are not. This is called preference policy.
Sometimes the pharmacist chooses which brand you receive. The pharmacist agrees with the health insurer that they will receive a specific amount for each medicine. They then determine which brand to supply to you.
Deductible
The health insurer reimburses medicines from the basic package. For the basic package, you have a mandatory deductible: you pay the first €385 of healthcare costs in a calendar year yourself (you can also have a voluntarily higher deductible). You will receive an invoice for this from the health insurer.
It is possible that your health insurer does not charge a deductible for some medicines. Each health insurer can decide this for itself.
Patient contribution: co-payment for medication
For some medicines, you have to pay an additional amount. This is called the personal contribution. You pay a personal contribution if there is a cheaper medicine that you could take.
The personal contribution is a maximum of €250 per year. You will receive the invoice for the personal contribution from your health insurer afterwards. Please note: the personal contribution is separate from your deductible.
For some medicines requiring a co-payment, there is a reimbursement scheme. Under this scheme, the manufacturer reimburses (a portion of) the co-payment. Your pharmacist can tell you whether this applies to you.
See also apotheek.nl and the Consumers' Association website for the most up-to-date information.