Anderzorg, FBTO and Cheaper Dutch Policy Variants

Several Dutch insurance groups run separate labels next to their main brand. Menzis has Anderzorg and Achmea has FBTO, and within each range the cheaper variants pay less for providers without a contract.

The cheaper variants are not a trick. But it is paid for with something specific, and that something is written in a single clause about providers without a contract. If you know how to read that clause, a budget policy is a rational choice. If you do not, you find out in a bill.

Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links to a.s.r. and UnitedConsumers, approved partners of ours. If you take out a policy through one of those links we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Anderzorg and FBTO are named without links: we have no commercial relationship with either.

💡 Related: Menzis reviewed for expats, how to read a Dutch policy, supplementary insurance explained.

What “budget” can and cannot mean in the Dutch system

Start with the constraint that makes this market unusual. The content of the basic package is determined by the government, not by the insurer. The statutory deductible for 2026 remains €385. And insurers are legally obliged to accept you for the basic insurance, and may not refuse older or sick applicants or charge them a higher premium (all rijksoverheid.nl, retrieved 4 October 2026).

So a budget insurer cannot sell you a thinner basic package, cannot screen you out, and cannot charge you more for being unwell. What it can do — and rijksoverheid.nl says this plainly — is offer a naturapolis with fewer contracted providers or lower reimbursements for providers without a contract, which Rijksoverheid calls a policy with restrictive conditions (or budget policy).

That is the entire mechanism. Everything below is a variation on it.

Anderzorg: a separate label within Menzis

Anderzorg’s own site states that it is part of Menzis (anderzorg.nl, retrieved 4 October 2026). Its basic policy, Anderzorg Basis, is a combinatieverzekering: go to a provider Anderzorg has agreements with and you get 100 percent of the bill reimbursed; go to a provider without a contract and you get 60 to 100 percent of the bill depending on the type of care, up to a maximum of 60 to 100 percent of the amount Anderzorg has contracted on average for that treatment (anderzorg.nl, retrieved 4 October 2026).

Note the two limits stacked in that sentence. First a percentage, then a cap on the amount the percentage is applied to. A private clinic charging well above the usual contracted rate can leave you paying much more than the headline 40 percent shortfall implies.

Supplementary cover is sold as separate modules: Anderzorg Extra, Fysiotherapie, dental insurance, and a combined Buitenland & Tandongeval module for care abroad and dental accidents (anderzorg.nl, retrieved 4 October 2026).

For internationals, Anderzorg publishes more in English than FBTO. It publishes English terms and conditions for 2026 and earlier years, English application forms for people living abroad, and an English claim form for healthcare costs incurred abroad (anderzorg.nl, retrieved 4 October 2026). People living abroad who apply by e-mail send the form to a separate mailbox named on the application-forms page.

FBTO: pay only for the modules you pick

FBTO is part of Achmea; its own organisation page states the relationship (fbto.nl, retrieved 4 October 2026). Its pitch is modularity: you pick a base plan, optionally add a voluntary deductible, and then add supplementary modules such as dental and physiotherapy individually. The site’s own summary is “Betaal alleen voor wat je kiest” — pay only for what you choose.

The three base plans differ exactly where you would expect (fbto.nl, retrieved 4 October 2026):

Modularity is useful if you have one need, such as dental cover and nothing else. Add three or four modules, though, and the total can land above a packaged competitor — so price the full basket, not the base plan.

One caution for English-speaking readers. We looked for an English-language service section on fbto.nl on 4 October 2026 and did not find one; the site content and the policy documents we could reach were in Dutch. That is not a judgement on the insurer, but it is a practical factor if you would rather not handle a claim dispute in Dutch; our check of which insurers serve you in English covers eight insurers side by side. FBTO does issue an English declaration for travel and visa purposes, requested via chat, and publishes information on cover for care abroad, both in Dutch.

a.s.r., and the Ditzo name you may still see

a.s.r. sells three basic variants that map onto the same trade-off (asr.nl/zorgverzekering/basisverzekering, retrieved 4 October 2026):

• Bewuste Keuze — a natura policy, 100 percent at contracted providers, 65 percent of the average contracted price for non-contracted care.
• Ruime Keuze — a natura policy, 100 percent at contracted providers, 85 percent for non-contracted care (75 percent for mental healthcare and district nursing).
• Eigen Keuze — a combination policy, 100 percent at contracted providers and 100 percent of the average contracted price for most non-contracted care (80 percent for mental healthcare and district nursing).

All three are listed with 100 percent free choice of hospital. Supplementary cover is again modular, with dental insurance and modules such as glasses and lenses.

Two things follow from that, and both narrow the choice. The hospital is not the variable: a.s.r. lists “Ziekenhuizen 100% vrije keuze” for all three variants. The deductible is not a variable either — it is €385 in 2026 whichever variant you take, and you can raise it to a maximum of €885 (asr.nl/zorgverzekering, retrieved 4 October 2026). So picking between the three is mainly a decision about non-contracted care.

The Ditzo question comes up often enough to answer directly. Ditzo continued as a.s.r. on 17 April 2023. VECOZO, the healthcare data exchange, noted that the insured number, the billing UZOVI code 3336 and the risk bearer all stayed the same (vecozo.nl, retrieved 4 October 2026). a.s.r. now sells two kinds of health insurance: “Ik kies zelf van a.s.r.” (formerly Ditzo), with the basic variants Goede Keuze, Juiste Keuze and Vrije Keuze, and the a.s.r. zorgverzekering described above (asr.nl/verzekeringen/zorgverzekering/documenten, retrieved 4 October 2026).

See the a.s.r. health insurance variants and conditions

The number the discount is hiding

Put the percentages next to each other and the pattern is clear. FBTO and a.s.r. each sell a variant at 65 percent for non-contracted care, a middle variant at 75 or 85 percent, and a variant at 100 percent for most non-contracted care; Anderzorg’s single basic policy pays 60 to 100 percent depending on the type of care.

So the honest way to price a budget policy is not “how much do I save per month” but “what would a shortfall cost me if it happened”. Work it in this order:

1. List the providers you actually use — GP, dentist, physiotherapist, any specialist, any mental health provider.
2. Check each one against the insurer’s contract list for the specific policy variant, not the insurer in general.
3. For anyone not on the list, ask what the treatment costs and apply the reimbursement percentage from the policy.
4. Compare that shortfall with a year of premium difference. If one uncontracted treatment wipes out the annual saving, the cheap variant is not cheap for you.
5. Repeat the check next year. A provider contracted this year is not guaranteed to be contracted next year.

Our guide to reading a Dutch policy shows where the clause sits in the conditions document, and the comparison of the major insurers covers the parent brands — CZ, DSW and VGZ among them.

A collective discount does not touch that clause. UnitedConsumers works differently: it has worked with VGZ since 2006, and its benefit is 20% off supplementary insurance and dental insurance, with basic policies from €147.40 a month (unitedconsumers.com/zorgverzekering and /over-ons/samenwerkingen/vgz, retrieved 4 October 2026). That discount sits on the supplementary layer, so it lowers a premium without changing the non-contracted percentage you are exposed to — a saving you can put on top of a policy variant you chose on cover rather than on price.

Check UnitedConsumers →

When a budget policy is the wrong answer

Four situations where we would not go near the cheapest variant.

Care already in progress. A specialist you intend to keep, a treatment plan mid-course, a waiting list you have already joined. Switching mid-treatment to a variant with a lower non-contracted percentage is how people end up paying 35 percent of something they thought was covered.

A chronic condition with a fixed provider. If the hospital is not negotiable, the network is not either.

Mental health care with a specific therapist. The therapist you found may not be contracted under the cheapest variant, and non-contracted mental healthcare often has its own, lower percentage.

No appetite for annual admin. Budget policies reward people who check the contract list every autumn. If that is not you, buy a wider network and stop thinking about it.

If your needs sit mostly in the supplementary layer rather than the basic one, our supplementary insurance article is the better starting point — and note that the acceptance duty does not extend to supplementary cover: an insurer may refuse you for a supplementary policy.

Final thoughts

Do the contract check before the premium comparison. Open the policy variant you are considering, find its provider list, and look up your own GP, dentist, physiotherapist and any specialist by name. That single step decides whether a cheaper variant saves you money or costs you money.

Then wait for the published premiums before you commit. Switching decisions taken in October on last year’s numbers are decisions taken twice.

This article explains how cheaper Dutch health insurance variants are structured and is not insurance advice. Policy features and reimbursement percentages are quoted from anderzorg.nl, fbto.nl, asr.nl, unitedconsumers.com and vecozo.nl, and statutory rules from rijksoverheid.nl, all retrieved on 4 October 2026. Conditions, provider contracts and modules are revised annually — verify at the insurer before you decide. No premium figures for 2027 appear here, because they are not yet published.