Integration of economic appraisal and health care policy in a health insurance system; the Dutch case.

This article discusses the role of economic appraisal in insurance based health care systems, taking the case of the Netherlands as an example. The public health insurance system in this country is governed by the Health Insurance Executive Board, which policies are firmly based on the results of economic appraisal. Furthermore, reimbursement policies regarding pharmaceutical products are described, emphasizing again the position of information from economic appraisal in these policies. The article concludes with the identification of some trends in health policy and in the way it is supported by economic appraisal studies.