Part of everyone’s basic health insurance is paid for through taxation: this part is deducted from your income if you are in paid employment and if you are a freelancer you will have to pay this separately yourself (5,75% of your gross income, with a maximum of 3350 € in 2021).
Running man
As this is done automatically for employees and only a once-a-year activity for freelancers, this probably is not the part that you will be most concerned with. Your insurance premium and deductible excess will most likely have a more active impact on your bank balance and mood!
Your monthly premium (premie in Dutch) is a fixed fee that is deducted from your bank account each month. It varies between insurance providers and is in average about 125 per month for the basic health insurance. If you opt for supplementary health insurance, your monthly premium will increase.
The deductible excess (eigen risico) of your basic health insurance is the annual amount that you must pay out of pocket for certain types of treatments and drugs before your health insurance will cover the rest. This is an annual amount, so after the new year, your own contribution resets. If you have no medical costs for a whole calendar year, you won’t have to pay eigen risico that year.
You have taken on a voluntary deductible excess of €100 and you need to get a medical treatment that costs €600. This would mean that you would have to pay €385 (for the mandatory excess) + €100 (for the voluntary excess) = €485. Your insurance would pay the other €115.
