Dutch Health Premiums to Jump Up to €17.50 a Month in 2027

Health insurers in the Netherlands published their 2027 premiums this week, and every major basic policy is going up — by between €5.50 and €17.50 a month. On an identical mandatory basic package, the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive large insurer now runs to more than €30 a month, which turns the December switching window into the most valuable it has been in years.

The prices landed on Thursday 12 November, the deadline set for insurers to file their rates. CZ, Menzis, VGZ, Zilveren Kruis and DSW all confirmed increases, and several are drawing on reserves to keep the headline numbers below what the Ministry of Public Health had projected. Dutch basic insurance is compulsory and the annual switch period closes on 31 December, with cover starting on 1 January — so the next six weeks are the only real opportunity residents have to blunt the increase.

CZ and VGZ post the steepest increases

CZ, one of the country's largest insurers, is raising the monthly premium on its most popular basic plan by €17.26 to €177.25. VGZ's Basis Keuze policy rises €17.50 to €167.40 a month, while its Ruime Keuze plan goes up €16.50 to €170.75. Those sit at the top of the range published this week.

DSW, which traditionally moves first, announced in October that its basic premium would rise €14.75 to €173.25 a month. Insurers have argued that the increases reflect two consecutive years of rising healthcare costs, an ageing population and a widening range of available treatments.

Zilveren Kruis and Menzis soften the blow

At the other end of the table, Zilveren Kruis is raising its Basis Zeker plan by just €5.70 to €165.95 a month. Its cheaper Basis Start option climbs €5.50 to €159.45 — the lowest headline figure among the big five this year. Parent company Achmea has set aside roughly €400 million to curb increases, a sum it says will benefit more than five million customers across Zilveren Kruis, De Friesland, Interpolis, FBTO and De Christelijke Zorgverzekeraar.

Menzis is lifting its most frequently chosen policy by €9.50 to €165.75. The insurer is pulling €116 million from its own reserves to do so, which keeps its increase below the €12.50 a month the ministry had anticipated. CZ is similarly using €20 million of reserves to limit its rise.

Why the basic package keeps getting dearer

Two factors are doing most of the work. The first is structural: an ageing population and an expanding menu of treatments both push spending up, and the insurers say the supply of new healthcare professionals is not keeping pace with demand. The second is accounting. A one-off windfall from the Healthcare Insurance Fund softened last year's increase; that cushion is gone, and premiums are now absorbing the full cost.

“We invest billions in patient care, yet through earlier support, we could sometimes prevent problems from escalating and keep people from needing medical care in the first place.”

That was CZ chief executive Joep de Groot, arguing that the cost curve cannot be bent inside the medical sector alone. It is also the clearest signal that insurers expect the pressure to continue rather than ease.

• CZ's most popular basic plan: €177.25 a month, up €17.26.
• VGZ Basis Keuze: €167.40, up €17.50 — the largest increase of the week.
• Zilveren Kruis Basis Start: €159.45, up €5.50 — the cheapest of the big five.
• Menzis' most chosen policy: €165.75, up €9.50.

What happens next

Residents can switch insurer until 31 December, with the new policy taking effect on 1 January 2027. Comparison sites and the insurers themselves now publish the full 2027 tables, and anyone on a collective or supplementary package should check whether their add-ons survived the repricing — supplementary cover is priced separately from the basic package. Doing nothing is the expensive option: unchanged policies renew automatically at the new rate.

The mandatory excess remains a separate cost on top of the monthly premium, which is why the headline figure is rarely the full annual bill. Insurers are expected to publish their final policy documents before the switch deadline.

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Sources: NL Times, “Dutch health insurance premiums increasing by between €5.50 and €17.50 per month”, 13 November 2026; DutchNews.nl, “Health insurance premiums will rise next year”, 13 November 2026.