dalo said:
Is there a way to avoid this situation? Or is there a time limit for a backlog (lets say start of calendar year)?
No. And not only do you have to pay the standard premium for the time missed, but there's a major fine (130%) you have to pay too. You shouldn't look for too much sympathy for your problem - if you had an accident in the time that you weren't insured, you would have been treated as an emergency case, but at the expense of the people who did pay their premiums. Would you skip your car insurance for a couple of years because you are such a good driver?
How can you avoid this situation? Pay up from the beginning, like everyone else does. Too late in your case, but you took a gamble, and lost. Jammer, helaas as the neds say.
Note that if you have a low income, you can claim "zorgtoeslag" that, if your income is low enough, can cover a good proportion of the insurance premium cost. I have no idea if you can claim this for previous years - google is your friend. Good luck!
Yes but again .. you are conveniently missing the point of Insurance.
The point of insurance is to cover expenses .. 'just in case''. It's ´just in case´ insurance ... the same here as in Philly or any other part of the world.
So if you had been hit by a car and required 40k worth of surgeries, hospital stays, medication etc ... would you have been able to pull that much money out of your back packet? No.
The way it works is that ... everyone is not going to need 40k worth of health care every year. Most people are going to be fine for years to come with only minor ailments so they pay into the kitty for someone elses major expense. Conversely .. eventually YOU are gonna have some health care crisis so this same insurance will pay your 40k worth of bills. That´s how insurance works. DUH!
So you would have incurred a debt that the system (meaning all the rest of us!) would have had to it suck up. Then the next thing we know .. they would be making yet another announcement that Health insurance is gonna go up again .. and everyone would get upset again. 
Selfish.
That is what insurance is all about because nobody can predict their health care needs. DUH! If that were the case the insurance business would be completely overhauled.
I have lived here over 11 years and in that time I have had 3 major surgeries ... that I NEVER in a million years .. could have predicted. What if I was just walking around with no insurance and paying the doctor cash whenever I needed treatment for a cold or birth control pills etc during that time? Thats right .., I would have been another ´Taker´ sponging off the system. 
Trying to get away with something.
Lack of integrity.
I say .. grow up because geesh ... this Entitlement mentality of getting out of paying a couple of bucks for insurance (like everybody else) so that maybe you can stick it to the rest of us when something major happens ... is unreal. 
Nobody can respect this line of thinking.
DUDE .. you did not get MY point,
You did not have Dutch Health insurance. (Again .. still trying to get around ... the point).
You have to pay into the system here .. if you are going to live here.
Gosh if everyone´s home country´s insurance was just fine .. then you would be able to use it and that would be the end if it. Indeed, If you are just here on vacation, your home insurance is fine .. but once you become a Resident of this country .. by law .. you have to have Dutch Health insurance.
Really .. I see you as just another expat ´cheat´ giving the rest of us a bad name .. to tell the truth.
Reminds me .. That´s like the people driving around on their home country´s Drivers License. This is fine for a couple of months on vacation .. but they live here. So this means they don´t have Dutch CAR insurance. 
All they have to do is have some minor traffic incident to gain the attention of the Police and they will see they have been living here for HOW LONG? Years=
Nooo that situation will not end well either.
philly_girl said:
If the government has a law that insurance is mandated then the penalty for any lack of compliance should come from the government not indivudal providers.
I completely agree with you on that, as extraordinary expenses come out of a central government fund to cover any losses made by the insurers. And for sure, a bill in a blue envelope certainly carries more weight than any other type here 
.
gbu1 said:
you should contact the ombudsman 0800 6464644- this rule has been done away with to the extent that you must be issued a letter first from the government that you do not have cover and warning you to get your house in order. They give you a couple of months to find insurance. If you get cover, then there is no further issue. If you still don't, then they will fine you. With respect to fining you for uninsured months for whatever reason, this is basically illegal and you should take it up with the ombudsman: they cannot now fine you without you being in breach of your warning and associated notice period.ps. I'm not an expert of anything- just a grateful recipient!
This is correct . I got a letter telling me I had to get insurance and called them up and mentioned this thread and that I was worried my insurance would be backdated , the guy I spoke to said that if the insurance company tried to do that I was to call him and let him know as this practice is not allowed.
