AMSTERDAM--St. Maarten students in the Netherlands have never been left without medical insurance. However, students have to register their (un)employment status at the Dutch Social Insurance Bank SVB, otherwise they run the risk of receiving a fine.
"Students have not been left without insurance for one second," said Director Bertil Postema of the NNAM insurance managing company in the Netherlands. Postema and Henk Peter Verbree, also a NNAM Director, assured in an interview with The Daily Herald that parents should not worry about the insurance of their studying child.
The health insurance of students has been much in the news this year and not all reports in the media have been accurate, said Postema and Verbree. The confusion started when the Dutch Health Care Insurances Board (College voor Zorgverzekeringen) CvZ sent letters to students informing them that they were not insured.
CvZ considered these students uninsured, because they hadn't given clarity on their status – whether they were only studying or also working on the side. The Dutch law states that everyone living and working in the Netherlands must have health insurance.
International students, including those from St. Maarten, have a specific insurance. In the case of St. Maarten, St. Maarten Student Support Services S4 has collectively bought insurance for its students. But if a student has a side job, he or she has to switch to the general, basic insurance. S4 can arrange this through NNAM. But the student should inform S4 or NNAM when his or her status changes.
If a student fails to register this at the SVB Website, they will receive a letter from CvZ with the warning that they are not insured and that they must get insurance at once, or they will receive a 345-euro fine. After the second warning letter, the student is fined.
"Students don't receive a fine because they are not insured, but because they have failed to properly register themselves at the SVB," said Postema. Students who fail to respond are responsible for their own actions, he added. He pointed out that 90 per cent of the students had complied by registering their status at the SVB.
SVB will check whether a person is under national jurisdiction on exceptional medical expenses AWBZ. If that is the case, the person needs to have basic insurance (basisverzekering). If a person doesn't fall under this law, he or she must have private health insurance. A person who works and pays taxes falls under the AWBZ. Students who receive a letter from CvZ must register their status within six weeks.
Postema and Verbree have high regards for S4. The foundation has done more than enough to facilitate the students in this matter, said Postema. "Together with S4, we have set up a Website
www.ziektekostens4.nl, sent out various letters and reminders and organised information sessions throughout the Netherlands," said Verbree. The Website informs students in detail what they have to do if they receive a letter from CvZ. There is also the Website
www.nuffic.nl with English information on insurance.
The Website
ziektekostens4.nl was set up earlier this year, after an incident with the Aevitae insurance company, where the students are insured. After taking over the VPZ insurance company, Aevitae had placed the St. Maarten students, along with some 2,500 other students, under the wrong code in the digital databank, which health care providers check to see if a person has insurance.
As a result, students were told, when they sought medical care at a doctor's office or hospital, or when they visited the dentist or pharmacy, that they were not insured and that they had to pay the bill in advance. NNAM quickly sorted out the problem with Aevitae and the students were placed back under the right code. In total, some 180,000 clients in the Netherlands were duped by Aevitae's administrative error.
Postema stressed that S4 was not at fault. He added that the students had never been technically uninsured as a result of Aevitae's initial administrative blunder. He said that S4 had always been very facilitating, giving its students plenty of information.
"S4 and the St. Maarten Government do a lot for their students. I wish other countries would do as much for their students as St. Maarten does. The Netherlands surely doesn't do the same for its students abroad," said Postema.
NNAM, which stands for Noord-Nederlandse Assurantiemakelaars, not only arranges insurance of the 477 St. Maarten students, but also for the more than 2,300 students of Curaçao, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. The company also arranges insurance for 75,000 asylum seekers in the Netherlands. Verbree, with a proud smile, said: "We know everything about personal insurances."
