{"id":382,"date":"2026-10-03T11:37:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/?post_type=ba_guide&p=382"},"modified":"2026-10-03T11:37:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:37:33","slug":"hospital-specialist-care-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"ba_guide","link":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/?ba_guide=hospital-specialist-care-netherlands","title":{"rendered":"Hospitals and specialists in the Netherlands: referrals, costs and waiting times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dutch hospital and specialist care usually starts with a referral from your huisarts or another authorised referrer. Your insurance policy, provider contracts and the hospital’s waiting time can affect where and when you receive care.<\/p>\n

How you normally reach a specialist<\/h2>\n
  1. Discuss the problem with your huisarts or other permitted referrer.<\/li>
  2. If specialist care is medically indicated, receive a referral.<\/li>
  3. Check whether the hospital\/specialist is contracted by your insurer.<\/li>
  4. Check the provider’s published waiting time.<\/li>
  5. If the wait is too long, ask your insurer for wachtlijstbemiddeling<\/em> (care mediation).<\/li><\/ol>\n

    What does it cost?<\/h2>\n

    Hospital and medical-specialist care in the basic package generally counts toward the compulsory eigen risico for adults. In 2026 that compulsory amount is \u20ac385. A GP visit itself does not consume it.<\/p>\n

    Waiting times are not something you simply have to accept<\/h2>\n

    Hospitals publish waiting times by specialty. If you consider the wait too long, contact your insurer. Rijksoverheid says insurers have a care duty and can search for an earlier appropriate provider. The same principle is important in mental healthcare.<\/p>\n

    Emergency care<\/h2>\n

    For a life-threatening emergency call 112. For urgent problems outside GP hours that cannot wait, contact the huisartsen-spoedpost. Do not use the hospital emergency department as a substitute for normal GP care.<\/p>\n

    Newcomer checklist<\/h2>\n
    • Ask whether you need a referral.<\/li>
    • Check your insurer’s provider network before treatment.<\/li>
    • Ask the provider about waiting times.<\/li>
    • Use insurer care mediation if needed.<\/li>
    • Expect most covered specialist\/hospital care to count toward eigen risico.<\/li>
    • Keep referral letters and appointment correspondence.<\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      How Dutch specialist and hospital care works, including referrals, insurance networks, eigen risico and care mediation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","ba_country":[2],"ba_topic":[351,352,353,358],"ba_audience":[255,284,261,17,308],"ba_section":[20],"ba_stage":[28,30],"ba_location":[],"class_list":["post-382","ba_guide","type-ba_guide","status-publish","hentry","ba_country-netherlands","ba_topic-care-mediation","ba_topic-hospitals","ba_topic-medical-specialists","ba_topic-waiting-times","ba_audience-employees","ba_audience-families","ba_audience-newcomers","ba_audience-residents","ba_audience-students","ba_section-living","ba_stage-getting-established","ba_stage-living-stage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/ba_guide"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ba_guide\/382\/revisions\/383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ba_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_country&post=382"},{"taxonomy":"ba_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_topic&post=382"},{"taxonomy":"ba_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_audience&post=382"},{"taxonomy":"ba_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_section&post=382"},{"taxonomy":"ba_stage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_stage&post=382"},{"taxonomy":"ba_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borderlessadvice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fba_location&post=382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}