A living model of managed competition: a conversation with Dutch health minister Ab Klink. Interview by Alain Enthoven

Abstract

As of 2006, the Netherlands requires all citizens to buy a standard package of health benefits from private insurers. The government subsidizes premiums for those with low incomes and requires insurers to accept all purchasers. This mixed private-public approach to universal coverage has emerged as a potential reform model for the United States. In this November 2007 interview, Dutch health minister Ab Klink discussed his country's system with Alain Enthoven. Enthoven is one of the chief architects of the "managed competition" model that laid the groundwork for the Clinton administration reform proposal in the 1990s and pending legislation in the Senate, as well as the current Dutch approach.