Health care in Holland

Morning in Amsterdam

So I landed, only to discover the entire country had shut down.

No connecting flights, no trains as well.

The only way I could get home was a cab ride. Fortunately it was still early in the morning and plenty were available.

Within an hour of landing I was dropped off at the train station where I’d left my bike a couple of weeks ago. The locks were frozen but with a couple of good whacks the ice fell away and my key was able to open the locks without snapping. From there a slow cycle ride the last few minutes to my house.

By 8:00 am I was home safely, turned in and napping a bit before going to the doctor’s office a couple of doors down.

While on vacation I had run out of the initial supply of blood thinners and cholesterol medicine (meant to help lower my levels) that had been given to me following my initial stroke at the end of November.

Hopefully, as I thought, I’ll be able to go to the doctor’s office when he opens for walk-ins at 1:00 pm and I can get my prescription refilled then.

I do admit I had been feeling a little nervous for the last few days of my holiday. As I had been working until I left I was unable to swing by the doctor to get a refill on my medication before vacation. I’d run out a couple of days before the end of my holiday.

This is a lesson. Next time I have a stroke it may be best to simply cancel, or cut back significantly the amount of time and places I’ll be when on holiday. Just get plenty of rest and try to get back to a normal healthy lifestyle.

Saying “I’m fine” or “all is well” and so on might not be accurate.

My head and ribs were still hurting from my fall, as for my stroke and how that was recovering…how the hell would I know?

I felt good, like a survivor.

The love I got from people was wonderful.

I was on a high.

That did not last though.

Have to get back on the meds.

So as I landed, I wondered…

…can I get into the doctor’s office today, will he be open?

As it turns out…

…yep, no problem.

I woke from my nap, brushed my teeth and walked to the other side of the church I live next to where the doctor has his office.

I was third in line so my wait in the walk-in line wasn’t that bad at all.

The doctor even recognized me, even though I am new there. He remembered I had been referred by another one of his patients, the lady I actually rent from. She had looked into doctors in the neighborhood for me after I hit my head and needed the stitches removed.

We had a quick chat, mostly in Dutch. I do try to do that as often as I can, it is their land after all, best to try and speak the language. It goes a long way.

I showed him the paper the hospital had given me, listing what I was taking and how often it needed to be refilled.

He typed a bit, filling out what I was saying on his computer.

Said he was taking the cholesterol medicine himself.

And then he said “O.K.” It’s at the pharmacy waiting for me to pick it up.

Just like that.

Bang, done.

“Where’s the pharmacy”? I asked.

“Down the road, if you hit the roundabout you’ve gone too far.”

There it was. A fifteen minute walk, if that, right across from the elementary school.

I was able to get what the doctor ordered easily.

A three month initial prescription.

All that in less than two hours.

I paid for that, but the price is not too bad, and well worth it.

My monthly insurance bill is around 230 euros.

And for that I have a deductible that kicks in at 385 euros.

I just received an email regarding that. It appears I can expect that amount to be automatically billed to my account by the middle of next month.

No muss, no fuss.

For a long time, when I paid the bills, I knew that part of the taxes the employers pay for the nationwide health insurance were included in my monthly tax bills.

For Dutch employers they must kick in just under 7% of their salary bill per month to help fund the insurance policies.

I know how much it was that I paid.

I never minded that, I always thought that this is good use of the taxes I was paying at the time.

The 21% VAT, that I had a bigger problem with. Questioning what I got as a business owner for that rate.

But I know what I got for the health insurance taxes.

Into the doctors office, out of the pharmacy in under a couple of hours.

And the care from when I first had the stroke. From the ambulance ride and stitching they did at the time. Through the two nights and nice people working at the hospital. Making sure I was better, okay to release back into the wild.

Also included was the followup visit to another hospital, where they double checked my brain. I passed that test.

Same as it was before.

I have to say. For the amount I would pay when I owned a business, to the amount I know my employers pay (for which I thank them both), to the amount I pay monthly and the final bill.

A good system, they can help and it doesn’t break you to pay the bill.