Health and liability insurance

All residents in the Netherlands are legally obliged to have health insurance coverage. We also strongly recommend that you take out liability insurance. Find out about the options available and arrange your insurance well in advance.

Health insurance

Important factors

When arranging your health insurance, you must make sure the following are covered:

All medical costs: for both physical and mental healthcare, including hospitalisation.
All pre-existing medical conditions (even if you believe you do not have any): read the small print as this is often not the case
Repatriation costs

What type of policy?

Find out what type of policy is suitable for you. Note that if you decide to work or do a paid internship during your studies, you must switch to Dutch public health insurance.

If your existing health insurance does not cover all the important factors mentioned above, you should take out an international student insurance policy from a Dutch insurer. We highly recommend the ICS Complete+ package from AON and the Masterplan+ package from Insuretostudy, as these cover pre-existing conditions, personal liability, household contents, repatriation and legal advice.

AON student webinars

Before the start of each semester, AON holds free online webinars for international students coming to the Netherlands. Via the links below you can view the webinars that took place in January 2024.

You can find links to next semester's webinars here a few weeks before the start of the semester.

Many EU nationals* may be covered for a temporary stay in the Netherlands by their home country’s health insurance scheme. However, we generally recommend that you also take out an international student policy as described above. This is because:

some EU countries do not offer coverage if you are studying abroad;
in some cases, there may be a limit on the length of time you are covered;
the level of coverage might be lower than you anticipate.

Be aware that conditions of coverage are generally not stated on EU health insurance cards, therefore you must check the details with your home country’s insurance scheme in advance. Remember to request your EU health insurance card (E111) well in advance and bring it along with you.

Reimbursements
EU health insurance card holders can ask Zilveren Kruis insurance company for assistance in requesting reimbursements via this form.

*From 1 January 2021 onwards, UK nationals are no longer covered by the EU health insurance scheme (E111).

Many home-country insurance policies do not offer sufficient coverage for medical costs incurred during a period of study abroad. Therefore we strongly advise that you take out an international student insurance policy instead, as mentioned above. If you do want to use a home-country insurance policy, check carefully that it covers all the important factors listed above, such as pre-existing medical conditions. Remember to bring your policy along with you to the Netherlands.

If you decide to work alongside your studies, you must take out Dutch public health insurance. This is also the case if you do an internship for which you receive at least Dutch minimum wage*. Make sure you have Dutch public health insurance on the day you start your job or paid internship. Failure to do so can result in a hefty fine. See the Study in Holland website for details. If you already have international student insurance via AON, they can arrange your switch to Dutch public health insurance.

*You can calculate the Dutch minimum wage for your age and situation via this online tool (in Dutch).

More information?

Want to check you have sufficient insurance? Take a look on the Zorgverzekeringslijn website or ask a question via their chat function.
More information on health insurance in the Netherlands? Visit Study in Holland website or watch the video below.

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Liability insurance

We strongly advise you to take out third-party liability insurance to cover any accidental damage or harm you may cause to other persons or property during your stay. Liability insurance is included in some international student insurance policies, such as AON’s ICS Complete+ package. Alternatively, you can take out a policy with a Dutch insurer or bank. See the Study in Holland website for further information.