The Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) expects that the budget for long-term care in 2026 will be sufficient to cover all necessary care. In the February letter the NZa reports to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport whether the available budget for the Long-Term Care Act is sufficient for the coming year. For 2026, the total framework for long-term care amounts to €41.1 billion. To predict how much budget is needed, two different methods were used. Depending on the method used, an estimated €133 million or €301 million remains. In 2026, an additional €390 million in redistribution funds is available.
Demand for care uncertain
In 2025, the number of indications in the nursing and care sector increased again but showed less strong growth than in previous years. Due to the early timing of the forecast, it is still uncertain how the demand for care will actually develop in 2026 and what this means for the available budget. Currently, the RIVM is researching these developments in nursing and care. The available budget includes, among others, the cost price studies in disability care and long-term mental health care and the research into the normative housing component (nhc). These have led to adjusted policy rules from 2026 onwards.
New budget allocation
With the introduction of the Cross-Domain Cooperation Act, the allocation of the long-term care budget changes from 2026. This law strengthens cooperation between care domains and enables care offices to invest in, among other things, preventive measures. This allows people to live at home longer and may prevent heavier and/or more expensive care. Therefore, from 2026, the budget is divided into 3 sub-frames instead of 2. €96 million has been made available for the new sub-frame. Care offices have not reported any imminent overruns to the NZa. Based on this, we expect this sub-frame to be sufficient.