Health insurance, explained

Health insurance: the rule

Only studying? EU/EEA students use their EHIC card from home; non-EU students need a private student policy (your uni will name Aon Student Insurance or Insure to Study, roughly €30 to €50 a month). You are not allowed to take Dutch basic insurance if you don't work.

The moment you get a job or a paid internship, you're required to take Dutch basic health insurance (basisverzekering), about €140 to €160 a month in 2026. Sounds terrible until you claim zorgtoeslag (health allowance), which refunds most of it if your income is low, which as a student it is. Net cost often €20 to €40 a month. Compare and switch every year; the cheapest and the most expensive cover the same basic package by law. Compare basic policies.

Liability insurance (AVP): just get it

Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering covers damage you cause to others: you crash your bike into a car, you flood the downstairs flat, you break the landlord's washing machine. €3 to €5 a month. Landlords increasingly ask for it in the contract, and it's the difference between losing your deposit and not. Get one in 5 minutes.

Contents insurance (inboedel)

Covers your own stuff against theft and fire. Optional; worth it if you own a laptop and a bike and live in a shared house with a front door that's never locked. €3 to €8 a month.

Find a huisarts before you need one

The GP (huisarts) is the front door to everything: you cannot walk into a hospital or get most prescriptions without a referral. Practices near student areas fill up, so register in your first month, not the first time you are ill. Take your BSN, your insurance details and your address. Out of hours, the huisartsenpost handles urgent things and 112 is for emergencies only.

What basic insurance does not cover

The dentist (over 18), physiotherapy beyond a few sessions, glasses and contact lenses, and most of what an aanvullende verzekering (top-up) is sold for. Work out whether you will actually use it before paying for the top-up, most students will not. There is also an eigen risico, a yearly excess you pay yourself before basic cover kicks in; the GP is exempt from it, almost nothing else is.

Don't

Don't work without switching to Dutch insurance; the CAK fines you retroactively. Don't skip zorgtoeslag; students leave hundreds of euros a year on the table. Don't buy travel insurance for the Netherlands, it doesn't cover living here.

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