Health insurance in the Netherlands: What is an in-kind (natura) policy?

What is in-kind insurance?

Do you need to visit the hospital or another healthcare provider? In that case, your health insurer will only reimburse the costs if you go to a contracted provider. If you choose a provider that isn't contracted with your insurer, you’ll likely have to pay part of the costs yourself. This is often between 20% to 40% of the total bill.

Advantages of in-kind insurance

The advantage of a naturapolis is that it’s often a cheaper policy compared to a combination policy (which has more freedom of choice). You’ll only get full reimbursement when using contracted care providers, but the insurer ensures that you have a wide range of contracted providers to choose from.

Disadvantages of in-kind insurance

The disadvantage of an in-kind policy is that your choice is restricted to the health care providers that your insurer has a contract with. If you want to go to another hospital, you will have to pay part of the costs yourself. In the event of hospitalization, this amount can add up considerably. It is good to know that this does not apply to emergency care, in which case you can go to any hospital. You are also always insured if you have to go to the hospital in an ambulance.

In our comparison, we indicate whether you have free choice of care. If the insurer of your choice has a cross for this aspect, this means that you cannot always go to the hospital of your choice. If so, take a look at the details to see which care providers have been contracted and which have not.

What is an budget in-kind policy?

The budget in-kind policy works the same as an in-kind policy, but has fewer contracted hospitals. Therefore, it's often cheaper.