Reforming Social Insurance in The Netherlands

This paper discusses recent reforms of social insurance in the Netherlands. It describes how a serious economic crisis in the beginning of the 1980s set the stage for the subsequent reform process. The most fundamental reforms were introduced in the areas of sickness insurance, which was privatized, and disability insurance, which now involves experience rating. After exploring various challenges affecting the future of social protection, the paper discusses various remaining policy options. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2000social insurance, the Netherlands, privatization, competition, sickness insurance, disability insurance,