Since there is an inadequate response from healths insurers, hospitals and the Netherlands Healthcare Authority (NZa) on previous calls by the Dutch Consumers’ Association and Open State Foundation to disclose the prices of medical treatments, both parties jointly launched a webtool which will help consumers collect hospital prices in the Netherlands. In a database of the Dutch Consumers’ Association, developed in cooperation with Open State Foundation, one can now find more than 715,000 prices of medical treatments.

The database includes prices of medical treatments of both insurance companies as well as a number of hospitals. An analysis of the data by the Consumers’ Association showed vast difference between prices of the same medical treatment. These prices differ between contracted hospital prices of insurance companies but also between the hospitals themselves. Hospital prices would differ sometimes hundreds or thousands euro’s.

In 2014 Open State Foundation started a legal procedure. Just before the end of this procedure, and the hearing at the State Council, the Dutch minister of Health, sent a letter to parliament asking the Health Authority to start a process to make this information public. Until now, no such plan has been sent to parliament.