Health insurance: the rule that surprises everyone

Last checked 17 Aug 2026

3 min read

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Dutch health insurance rules for students are genuinely confusing, and getting them wrong costs you real money.

Everything on this page comes from Erasmus University Rotterdam’s own insurance page. Read that page too. It is short, it is official, and it is the version that counts.

The core of it is two sentences.

If you are here only to study, you do not take out Dutch basic insurance. You keep a private international student policy. The moment you start paid work or a paid internship that meets the wage rules, Dutch basic insurance becomes mandatory.

If you only study

You are not legally required to have Dutch basic health insurance, the basisverzekering. EUR asks that you arrange either cover from your home country or an international student policy from a Dutch provider. The IND requires cover for your permit anyway.

EUR points students at two providers by name:

Aon Student Insurance, which has separate plans for EEA and non-EEA students
InsureToStudy, the Masterplan+ package

Both cover pre-existing conditions, personal liability, lost property and repatriation.

On price: our members are currently paying roughly 55 to 60 euros a month for the Aon policy. Treat that as a guide from people who hold it rather than a quote, and check the current premium when you sign up.

Do not let a Dutch insurer sell you basic insurance while you are only studying. EUR warns that this happens anyway, that it is against the rules, and that you can be fined for it.

Why liability cover matters here

Dutch law makes you responsible for the cost if you damage somebody’s property or cause an accident. On a bike, in a shared house, in a rented room, that is not a theoretical risk. Liability cover is bundled into both student policies above, which is a large part of why EUR recommends them.

If you take paid work or a paid internship

Then you are inside the Dutch system and the basisverzekering becomes compulsory. The trigger is not identical for everybody:

EU, EEA and Swiss nationals: a paid internship is enough.
Non-EU and non-EEA nationals, which includes Azerbaijani students: the obligation kicks in once you earn at least the Dutch minimum wage.

Any Dutch insurer must accept you and the basic package is identical by law, so students mostly choose on price. Expect a real monthly premium plus the standard eigen risico, the deductible.

You can usually claim zorgtoeslag, the healthcare allowance, which offsets a good part of the premium. Apply through the Belastingdienst with your DigiD.

When the job ends the obligation ends, and you switch back to a student policy. People forget this direction and pay for months of nothing.

What it costs to get this wrong

The CAK checks who is insured. If you are required to have basic insurance and you do not, the penalty is roughly 130 percent of the nominal premium for every uninsured month, and if it is still not sorted three months after the CAK writes to you, a further fine of 528 euros.

The letters are in Dutch and look ignorable. They are not. If one arrives, deal with it that week and ask the group chat or a Dutch speaking friend to translate it.

Insurance is not access. For that you register with a huisarts, a GP. Do it in your first month while you are healthy. Practices near Woudestein fill up, and the huisarts is the gateway to everything else in Dutch healthcare, referrals and prescriptions included.