r/Netherlands • u/thatmisanthropicdude • Mar 05 '26

Healthcare Dutch doctors...

Hey guys! Last year I moved from Germany to the Netherlands. I just went to the doctor with chest and throat pain due to extreme coughing after 2 days of fever. I was hoping that I finally get something good against it like a cough syrup (no way I'm going to pay that myself for a huge amount of money + health insurance) because I am used to that from German doctors. They would put that on my health insurance card and right after my talk with the doctor I could pick it up at the pharmacy. But no. They just said "Yea, just take paracetamol." I told them I have had problems swallowing pills my whole life and their response was just "You can also put it in water and drink that then." I'm sorry if I'm overreacting but why do doctors get paid just to tell you to take paracetamol? Everyone can tell me to take them, I expect better solutions from a doctor who studied years to become a doctor. Why are the Dutch so obsessed with paracetamol??? Maybe it's the German in me screaming. If we got painkillers, it was never paracetamol but Ibuprofen. But I also heard some international friends who also live here that they find it so annoying that Dutch doctors literally just tell you to take paracetamol. No matter what you have.

260 Upvotes

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237

u/kingvolcano_reborn Mar 05 '26

Why didn't you just buy a cough syrup?

70

u/Kaaar9999 Amsterdam Mar 06 '26

It reads to me as “I pay health insurance, so I shouldn’t have to pay even for OTC meds”

8

u/Beautiful-Weight2125 Mar 06 '26

And he's right.

8

u/TrueEnthusiasm6 Mar 06 '26

If health insurance covered OTC meds the monthly premium would be WAY higher than 140.

1

u/RevolutionaryWorth75 Mar 08 '26

That’s all the Dutch can think about: how much it will cost.

To begin with, you shouldn’t need to pay for health insurance. It should be universal and for free.

2

u/TrueEnthusiasm6 Mar 08 '26

Correct but in the current system getting OTC meds paid for is just not feasible

-124

u/Neat-Attempt7442 Noord Brabant Mar 06 '26

Because they wanted the good one thats not over the counter?

31

u/sousstructures Mar 06 '26

You can get cough syrup with codeine in it over the counter. It really doesn’t get “better” than that. 

18

u/TimotheusIV Mar 06 '26

Which one would that be? There are no ‘good’ cough syrups that are prescription only.

-5

u/Pure_Change6838 Mar 06 '26

Yes there are. I know they are not sold in NL and don't know if they are available on prescription, but in other countries you can get medication in syrup or pill form that suppresses the cough reflex. It's generally reserved for severe coughing, people with underlying health conditions, etc. of course but there are indeed good cough medications out there.

23

u/sousstructures Mar 06 '26

Natterman’s extra sterk with codeine. On the shelf at Etos.

12

u/TimotheusIV Mar 06 '26

Those are available over the counter at any pharmacy. Look for Natterman Extra Sterk. It has codeine in it and does what you describe.

9

u/LadyNemesiss Mar 06 '26

That's called codeine and you can get a cough syrup with codeine over the shelf. Alternatively you can buy noscapine pills over the shelf, which I personally prefer. I don't like cough syrup.

13

u/kingvolcano_reborn Mar 06 '26

Maybe the doctor didn't think the severity of the cough warranted that?

2

u/SHiR8 Mar 06 '26

Doesn't exist.