Spending on Health Care in the Netherlands: Not Going So Dutch

The Netherlands is among the top spenders on health in the OECD. We document the life-cycle profile, concentration and persistence of this expenditure using claims data covering both curative and long-term care expenses for the full Dutch population. Spending on health care is strongly concentrated: the one per cent of individuals with the highest levels of expenditure account for one quarter of the aggregate in any one year. Averaged over three years, the top one per cent still accounts for more than a fifth of the total, indicating a very high degree of persistence in the largest expenses. S... Mehr ...