Health insurers in the Netherlands will adjust their authorization policy for “complete tertiary breast reconstruction” surgeries after breast cancer so that these are automatically approved, Zorverzekeraars Nederland (ZN) announced. The Dutch Association for Plastic Surgeons (NVPC) stressed that this does not apply to all follow-up surgeries but is a “huge step in the right direction.”
Dutch health insurers standardly reimburse reconstructive surgery after cancer, except in the case of breast cancer. Doctors first need to apply for a follow-up surgery after an initial reconstruction of amputated breasts, and those applications often get rejected, NOS reports.