E-cigarette in basic health insurance package

November 01 2021, by Willy van Knippenberg
1 min reading time

In the UK, e-cigarettes have recently been included in the basic health insurance package. Will the Netherlands follow suit soon?

In England, e-cigarettes have been included as standard in the basic health insurance package (National Health Service) since November 2021. In the UK, e-cigarettes are considered a smoking cessation aid.

More than 3.6 million people in the UK use e-cigarettes, and a large proportion of them are ex-smokers. E-cigarettes have helped them wean themselves off regular cigarettes. The British government began promoting e-cigarettes in 2017, citing the high number of deaths from years of smoking. In 2019, this number was still around 64,000.

After years of research, British Health Secretary Sajid Javid believes it's time to include e-cigarettes in basic health insurance packages to give more people the chance to quit smoking.

E-cigarette as medicine

Manufacturers of e-cigarettes can now apply in England to have their e-cigarettes recognized as a medical device to help people quit smoking. This means that doctors can prescribe e-cigarettes to patients, and the e-cigarettes will be subsidized for those patients. Patients pay the equivalent of approximately €11 for the e-cigarette, with the remainder covered by the government. Those under sixteen and over sixty do not have to pay a co-payment. The British government emphasizes, however, that e-cigarettes are not recommended for children and non-smokers.

Sales of e-cigarettes in hospitals.

Shops where hardened smokers can purchase e-cigarettes have already opened in two English hospitals. The hospitals, in Birmingham and West Bromwich, are the first in the UK to do so.

At the same time, hospitals' anti-smoking policies have been tightened. Patients and employees who smoke on hospital grounds can be punished with a fine or a work-related sanction, respectively, even if they secretly light up a cigarette in their car in the parking lot.

E-cigarette regulations in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, e-cigarettes are still not considered a successful smoking cessation tool. Even e-cigarettes with flavors like menthol, strawberry, and other non-tobacco flavors are being phased out. The ban is intended to make e-cigarettes less appealing.