THE HAGUE, 07/06/07 - Amsterdam is giving all the homeless free healthcare insurance. The capital will pay 108 euros a month per person.

Everybody in the Netherlands is required to have health insurance, but those who do not still get healthcare because doctors are legally required to provide it. The homeless are therefore a cost item for healthcare institutions.

Amsterdam will now pay for the health insurance of its homeless from general tax funds. They will even get a package with supplementary healthcare instead of the basic package, giving them the right to psychiatric care.

An agreement has been concluded with insurer Agis on a premium of 108.85 euros a month per person. Amsterdam will launch a one-year pilot with 100 homeless and illegal immigrants who sleep in home-made accommodation or on park benches.

The city has 2,600 registered homeless. Most of these were already insured free by the city; they are 'semi-homeless' who sleep in municipal hostels and also get drugs and welfare benefit payments there. The new policy applies to vagrants who do not avail of these facilities.