What is excess?
The excess is an initial amount that you have to pay yourself when you receive care that is reimbursed out of the basic insurance.
When do I need to pay excess?
You need to pay the excess when you are 18 or older and receive care covered by your basic insurance. The Dutch government determines the amount of the compulsory excess. In 2021 this has been fixed at €385. If your care costs less than €385, you will not have to pay the full amount. For some types of care, such as GP consults, you do not have to pay the excess.
You can opt for a voluntary excess
You can raise the amount of excess that can be billed to you. This may be interesting for those people who do not expect to need a lot of care. When you raise the excess, you will get a discount on your insurance premium. You can raise the excess in steps of €100 up to a maximum amount of €885 (including the compulsory excess of €385).
Calculate your discount (Dutch)
Do you have questions about your invoice?
If it’s unclear to you why you’ve received an invoice, what costs it refers to or if you think you’ve already paid, please take a look at the costs of the care you have received on your MijnZZ-page (Dutch). You can find the invoice under the ‘facturen’ tab.
How the excess works: an example
You have fallen down and go to your general practitioner. They refer you to hospital. Afterwards, you receive medication from a pharmacy.
In this example, you pay no excess for the consult with your GP. You do pay excess for the costs related to the hospital and the pharmacy.
Which invoices will you receive?
In this example, you only have a compulsory excess of €385; you have not opted for any voluntary excess.
GP | Zorg en Zekerheid will pay the costs claimed by your GP. You do not have to pay excess for this care.
Hospital | Zorg en Zekerheid will pay the costs claimed by the hospital: in this example €350. Zorg en Zekerheid will send you an invoice. You will pay €350 to Zorg en Zekerheid.
Pharmacy | Zorg en Zekerheid pays the pharmacy €40 for the medication they gave you.
You will receive an invoice from Zorg en Zekerheid of €35. After paying this €35, you have paid the full excess of €385 for that year.