Excessive spending on dental care, radiology, and implants could cause a €217 million overrun in the federal health insurance budget, according to reports in Thursday's editions of De Tijd and L'Echo.
This year, the health insurance budget is already heading towards an overrun of €150 million. If this trend continues, the deficit will reach €217 million next year.
Compared to the total budget, this amount is relatively small—about 0.5% —but Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke has raised the alarm, calling for an intervention, the dailies report.
The first reason for the overrun is the accelerated spending rate: in June, the overrun had been estimated at €79 million, but it has now nearly doubled.
Secondly, the Vivaldi coalition agreement had accepted, in principle, a faster increase in health insurance spending.
The Board of the Federal Institute for Health Insurance (INAMI) —which includes representatives of the federal government, mutual funds, and doctors — has to agree on the 2025 budget by 21 October.
