The current cost of corona is a pittance compared to the costs we face as a society. Not to mention the consequences of a possible second wave.
If the coronavirus has demonstrated one thing it is the importance of our health. Good health is worth its weight in gold at the moment. There is still some work to be done in this area in the Netherlands.
Corona aside, we in the Netherlands are getting sicker and sicker. Indeed, according to the Public Health Service, **58% of the Dutch**while a chronic condition. This is partly because we growing older, but also because more and more Dutch people are suffering from diseases of affluence. Physically, but also mentally, because high (work) pressure is also something that we imposing more and more on ourselves.
The healthcare industry must accommodate us in this regard. Unfortunately, that sector itself offers the most dire future prospects. Absenteeism in health care is already the highest in the Netherlands: 5.9 percent versus 4.7 percent on average.
In addition, the demand for healthcare personnel continuously. To meet this, in a few years, 1 out of 4 of those employed in the Netherlands will have to work in healthcare. That that is not going to happen is clear. The consequence: a large deficit to healthcare workers, even higher workload, growing absenteeism, even fewer staff, rising costs. No emergency fund can beat that.
Meanwhile, more than 1,600 healthcare specialists, as well as various top athletes and sports bodies working hard for a healthier Netherlands. This is useful not only in the fight against the virus, but also for our wallets. After all, if we continue like this, a much bigger crisis is just around the corner.
In early May, when we all shouted from all rooftops that the situation had become financially untenable, we were not even at a quarter of the additional health care costs projected per year.
Healthcare costs are the highest costs within the budget. These are now around 100 billion euros a year. However, they are expected to increase to 174 billion euros per year(!). When you set that annual additional cost of 74 billion euros against the one-time support package of 20 billion euros from the government (d.d. May 2) then suddenly the challenge becomes very clear.
The government and health insurers will have to be more decisive. The health initiatives of recent years do not show progressive insight. A government that manages to raise the price of healthy food with dry eyes and the price of candy, snacks and sugar reduced, is not engaged in health promotion.
The initiative to make lifestyle coaches publicly accessible also turns out to be no more than a façade. Of the only 6.5 million euros allocated for this purpose is less than 250,000 euros deployed. This is partly due to the strict regulations that lifestyle coaches must comply with. Lifestyle coaches end up keeping so little from their coaching that they get itself not even healthy be able to live on.
So, if we want to be ahead of the next crisis, we will have to take action ourselves; exercise more, eat healthier, learn to cope better with work pressure and improve our sleep. These are marginal steps to prevent us all ending up on very expensive waiting lists.
