We’ve got reasonable health insurance in NL, but let’s face it, the system isn’t focused on solving your day-to-day vitality, it’s good for patching up a disease when it’s gotten pretty far down the line.

Don’t let them do all the thinking for you, or you’ll only be informed by their tools: surgery, medications (often with side effects), and band-aides.

Get Savvy – make your own health strategy.

Or, use mine! Now more than ever, it’s important that you have a changing strategy for changing times!

HERE IS MY STRATEGY:

1. Put health in your budget!! If you’re committed to deep healing, you have to set a little money aside each month as a fund to help pay for your alternative appointments, in addition to what you pay monthly to your verzekeraar. Aim for €25-50/month.

2. Create a healthy emergency fund. Keep an eigen risico amount, and DON’T TOUCH IT, year after year until you really need it. Top it up immediately when used.

3. Create a health maintenance fund.

What do you want to do this year to improve your health?

• A detox cleanse?
• A pair of glasses?
• Hire a trainer?
• Yoga classes?
• A high-level health coaching program?

Set an auto-transfer each month to your health savings account, anywhere from €25-75. Then transfer for each yearly item, for example about €50/year for things like glasses.

4. Find practitioners with great programs. I make sure clients who are committed to working with me to change their health and prevent major expenses that not doing maintenance can incur – in particular costly & painful downtime from work. Then there’s the energy saved from the emotional expense when you don’t have to fight to maintain a positive mood, when your body doesn’t feel well, and when you wake up feeling clear and ready for your day.

5. Make a fuss. There’s a rapid downward trend that consumers are getting less & paying more for health coverage, and the only way to change it is for individuals with voting power- in other words, their CUSTOMERS- to state loudly (and diplomatically!) that you want them to continue alternative coverage and high daily and yearly allowances.

The right place to put pressure is on companies and legislation. Follow what laws around verzekering are being passed.

Write a letter to your verzekeraar, share it where other people can easily replicate it and send it to theirs. (I’ve known clients who initiated this!) Same with your local politicians. They have to see a demand for you to continue to benefit.