Dutch Doctors and Their Patients — Effects of Health Care Reform in the Netherlands

It is still too early to draw definitive conclusions about the effects of the reform of the Dutch health care system, which was implemented in 2006. But physicians and patients are now living under the new system, and some of its consequences are becoming clear.Primary care has been at the center of Dutch health care practice for a long time. All citizens are registered with a general practitioner, who provides generalist and continuous medical care and deals with more than 95% of health problems. Specialist consultations are covered by insurance only after referral. Since World War II, insurance coverage . . .