Dutch insurance covers overseas surgeries. Well, they are supposed to... I managed to get full coverage for my surgery (SRS + trachea shave) with Dr. Chettawut past November. It was not easy though.
The first time I inquired, they told me that they would cover around 3.500 EUR. That was supposed to be 75% of the "average price" for an SRS in the Netherlands (trachea shave was not yet an issue at that time). This seemed absurd to me, as there are only two hospitals in the Netherlands where those surgeries are performed and both charge an estimate of 12.000-14.000 EUR. The exact price is rather vague, but nobody seems to care as SRS is fully reimbursed anyway. So I pointed out several flaws in the calculation to them (too long to describe here) and asked for a new calculation.
The second time I received a rejection. It turned out they had made a 'mistake' and that foreign surgeries were excluded from my insurance, at least for SRS. I could still claim 3500 EUR though, because it was their mistake. This is where 5 years of legal training turned out to be very useful. I wrote a complaint in which I argued that the policy conditions on which they based their rejection were void. Dutch law simply provides a freedom of choice if it comes to surgery. Insurance is not required to pay what is in excess of what is considered normal in the Netherlands, but 3500 EUR was still too low.
The third time I was informed that they would compensate 8800 EUR. Later my policy conditions for 2017 were also altered, which turned out to compensate everything in excess of 8800 EUR as well. The trachea shave was added one month before my SRS, because of the long waiting list in the Netherlands. This one was less difficult. Moreover, I kept repeatedly asking for conformations on what I had to do exactly to make sure everything would be reimbursed swiftly. The entire amount was neatly transferred one week after getting home. Insurance did not understand that the word SRS on the invoice referred to, well, a vaginoplasty... That is the only reason why I did not get reimbursed earlier.
I should point out that I have three friends who still have a dispute with their insurer over their reimbursement Two cases are currently in court, the third will likely follow. The reimbursements seem to be very random at this moment, which I also notice when helping other people fixing their coverage. However, in Thailand I was told by other women that I was very lucky to get any reimbursement at all. So yes, it exists. But no, it is not easy to fix (full) reimbursement. Despite the apparent lower costs of surgery abroad...
