Contours of the Basic Health Care Benefit Package

As part of the planned reform of the health insurance system, the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport has requested the Health Council to ‘formulate an opinion with regard to the workable, scientifically based criteria for identifying which care services should be included in a basic package’. The Committee on Contours of the Basic Health Care Benefit Package gives an account of its findings in this advisory report. To begin with, it outlines the interpretation of governmental responsibility for public health and health care customarily adopted in the Netherlands. Then it examines the considerations that can play a role in decisions regarding the scope and composition of a so-called ‘basic package’. These include equal access, protection of individuals against themselves, and cost control. Partly on the basis of an international overview of analyses for decision-making on rationing issues, the Committee then specifies the criteria that are relevant when formulating a basic package and investigates the applicability of these criteria.