Not everyone who is entitled to a health care allowance also applies to this allowance. According to the Ministry of Finance, about one in ten beneficiaries leave money behind. People do not know their right to it, or something has changed in their personal situation as a result of which they did not receive a provision before. MBO students often leave money behind relatively because they don’t know they’re worth it, according to research by Nybod.

To be eligible for Medicare Benefit you must be at least 18 years old, have Dutch health insurance and have a maximum 2021 share capital of no more than €118,479 for a single person, and €149,819 if you also have a dedicated partner . You are also not allowed to earn too much: a maximum of €31,138 (single person) or €39,979 (with a dedicated partner).

If you want to know if you are entitled to benefits, You can make a test calculation on the website of the tax authorities. Applications for 2021 can be submitted until August 31 this year. The same applies to the rent allowance. The healthcare allowance can be up to a maximum of 107€ per month (single person) or 207€ per month for families.

Comparison website Independer calculates that up to 500 million healthcare benefits could remain on the shelf. In 2021, about €5.3 billion in healthcare benefits were paid out to 4.7 million people. If one in ten people overlooked the average healthcare benefit of €1,127, that would amount to about 500 million.

It is not clear if this is really that amount. “The amount may of course be somewhat less, because people on a lower benefit may not find it worth the effort to apply for a Medicare benefit. But it is also possible for people to be entitled to a large amount, but they do not know that there is such a thing as a benefit health care,” says independent care expert Miriam Prins.

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