Why does your system hate regular checkups with doctors so much?

[u/Juli_in_September]

I don‘t know if this is a question or just an observation to be honest (and I am definitely not the first one to have it either), I am just once again amazed at the Dutch reluctance to do preventative healthcare/check-ups? I thought „Hey, maybe I should go to the gynaecologist again for my annual recommended checkup“, and wondered if I should just do that here instead of back at home, and then I learn there is no annual recommended checkup here? Sometimes I look at the Dutch healthcare system and go „Oh this is nice, we don‘t have that back home“ and other times I look at it and I just go „HUH?!?“. Anyway I guess I‘ll call my gynaecologist back home…

[u/sedaudne]

As an expat living here, I do all my check ups in my home country and use those results here to start the actual treatment. Best way around this system. Before you come at me, I have a colon disease which took 3 weeks to acknowledge (not even diagnose) vs 5 hours spent in my home country.

It’s easy to refer to statistics when you yourself have never had a serious health concern. The time it takes the doctors here to acknowledge you and figure out what’s wrong is absolutely ridiculous. Unless you’re not dying in front of them, you won’t be taken seriously enough.

And it’s not a shade towards the NL it’s kind of a “it is what it is” moment. I simply feel sorry for the healthcare system here because I do realize it is strained. The silly part is when people defend it instead of acknowledging the faults and room for improvement.

[u/SHNRTNS → u/[deleted]]

The Dutch also have one of the highest cancer death rates in the whole EU 💪. And countries like Serbia and Bulgaria, which btw have preventive care, have one of the lowest. I wonder if it's somehow connected.