In 2022, the total health expenditure as share of GDP in the Netherlands reached 13.2 percent, a significant decrease from the previous year. In 2020, the total health expenditure in the Netherlands increased from around 13 percent of total GDP to 14.6 percent. This is probably due to the effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the Dutch health insurance system. In the Netherlands, every resident or employee is obliged to take a basic health insurance to cover medical costs from, for example, visits to a general practitioner or the hospital. The Dutch government decides on the cover provided by this package and health insurance companies are obliged to accept everyone who meets the requirements, regardless of age or state of health.
An important characteristic of Dutch health insurance, though, is the so-called "principle of social solidarity": the overall costs of health care are paid by everybody. It is since 2008, for example, compulsory from the age of 18 to pay a total mandatory excess before the basic health insurance reimburses medical costs. In this way, everybody contributes to certain types of healthcare such as maternity care. In 2021, the
total mandatory excess reached a value of 385 euros.