The country of residence factors for 2019 were calculated in a different way. Below you can read about why this change was made and how the calculation is performed.
What is the country of residence factor?
A treaty contribution is adjusted using a country of residence factor, as the costs of medical care differ from one country to another. Is the statutory care in your country of residence cheaper per person than it is in the Netherlands? If so, your treaty contribution will be lower. If the statutory care in your country of residence is more expensive, your treaty contribution will be higher.
How is the country of residence factor calculated?
We divide the average healthcare costs per person in your country of residence by the average healthcare costs per person in the Netherlands. We always use the healthcare costs from the same year. If we take the healthcare costs in your country of residence in 2014 as a basis for the calculation, we will also use the healthcare costs in the Netherlands in 2014. If these costs are exactly the same, the country of residence factor is 1. The treaty contribution is multiplied by the country of residence factor. Are the costs in your country of residence 10% lower than in the Netherlands, for example? In that case the country of residence factor is 0.9 and your treaty contribution is therefore 10% lower.
Why have you changed the calculation for 2019?
To calculate the country of residence factor, we rely on information from your country of residence about healthcare costs. However, for more and more countries it is becoming difficult to obtain the correct information. For 2019 we therefore used a different source: the World Health Organization (WHO).
What is different in the calculation for 2019?
The WHO figures* are calculated in a slightly different way compared with those we received from your country of residence in previous years. If we used the WHO figures to recalculate the country of residence factor, this could result in a significant increase in this factor, which is not desirable. For that reason we are only using the WHO figures to adjust (i.e. index) the country of residence factor. If, according to the WHO, the healthcare costs in your country of residence are rising by more than those in the Netherlands, the country of residence factor will increase. Conversely, if healthcare costs in the Netherlands are rising more quickly than those in your country of residence, the country of residence factor will fall.
* For Liechtenstein the Eurostat figures were used
Country of residence factor for 2017 as a basis for the 2019 factor
Since the end of 2014, certain healthcare costs in the Netherlands have no longer fallen under statutory social health insurance. As of 2015 these costs have been paid under the Social Support Act (Wmo). That means that the average healthcare costs used to calculate the country of residence factor have fallen in the Netherlands. Consequently, the country of residence factor for certain countries rose significantly in 2018. For those countries we are calculating the 2019 country of residence factor on the basis of the factor for 2017.
Country of residence factor for 2018 as a basis for the 2019 factor
For all other countries healthcare costs for 2014 or earlier were still being used to calculate the country of residence factor for 2018. This is because the healthcare costs for 2015 were not yet known in the case of those countries. For those countries we are calculating the 2019 country of residence factor on the basis of the factor for 2018.
Same starting point for all countries
We are therefore performing the calculation for all countries using average healthcare costs that pre-date the change made in 2015. In this way we are keeping the new calculation as fair as possible for everyone.