A vasectomy in the Netherlands costs roughly 350 to 500 euro, and your basic insurance pays none of it. Andros listed a 2026 rate of 495 euro, settled at reception, with an invoice arriving about six weeks later.
Sterilisation is outside the basic package for everyone. That is not your insurer making a mistake.
What does differ is your supplementary policy, and the amounts vary sharply. Below are the 2026 vasectomy costs, plus the cost-per-year calculation that appears on no clinic page.
What does a vasectomy cost in the Netherlands?
Budget 350 to 500 euro at most clinics. Consumentenbond used about 500 euro as a guide figure for male sterilisation in its 2026 overview. Andros quoted 495 euro, covering the procedure itself, which that clinic puts at about fifteen minutes.
That is an amount you pay once and then never again.
When comparing, check what sits inside the price. The consultation, the procedure, aftercare and the semen check are not counted the same way everywhere.
Ask about it explicitly. A 350 euro rate that excludes the check is dearer than it looks.
Does health insurance reimburse a vasectomy?
Basic insurance does not, supplementary insurance sometimes does. Sterilisation has been kept out of the basic package, so whether you get anything back depends entirely on the supplementary policy you hold. Some policies reimburse 100 percent, others cap at 300 or 400 euro.
The spread is wider than you would expect for a single procedure.
| What | Amount in 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Vasectomy at Andros | 495 euro | Andros, 2026 |
| Vasectomy, guide figure | about 500 euro | Consumentenbond, 2026 |
| Female sterilisation | 1,300 to 1,600 euro | Consumentenbond, 2026 |
| Basic insurance | no reimbursement | Consumentenbond, 2026 |
| CZ Plus | 100 percent, maximum 400 euro for the vas deferens | Consumentenbond, 2026 |
| Menzis ExtraVerzorgd 2 | up to 300 euro for men | Consumentenbond, 2026 |
| VGZ Aanvullend Beter | 100 percent | Consumentenbond, 2026 |
| ONVZ Vrije Keuze Topfit | 100 percent | Consumentenbond, 2026 |
These amounts change every year, and the premiums on those supplementary packages run from roughly 25 to 80 euro per month. So always check your own policy conditions before planning anything.
And do the arithmetic before switching. Taking an 80 euro per month package for a one-off 495 euro reimbursement costs you more than it returns.
What does a vasectomy cost per year of use?
About 25 euro a year, if you use it for twenty years. That is the calculation nobody makes, and it is what makes the price story honest. A vasectomy is a one-off outlay for something that then lasts decades, while most contraception is a recurring cost.
Four hundred and ninety-five euro divided by twenty years is 24.75 euro a year. Just over 2 euro a month.
Say you are 38, you and your partner have decided the family is complete, and you get sterilised this autumn for 495 euro. Use that decision until you are 58 and your contraception cost slightly over two euro a month.
Set that against 1,300 to 1,600 euro for female sterilisation and the gap is substantial.
But I have to be strict about my own arithmetic. It assumes you stick with the decision, and it values reversibility at zero. That is exactly why the cheapest option is not automatically the right one.
Someone who is unsure buys something real with more expensive contraception: the option to change their mind.
Is male or female sterilisation cheaper?
The male procedure, by a wide margin. Consumentenbond quotes about 500 euro for male sterilisation in 2026 and 1,300 to 1,600 euro for female sterilisation. That is roughly three times as much, and the procedure is heavier too.
A vasectomy happens under local anaesthetic, female sterilisation usually under general anaesthetic.
Financially that is not a hard sum. Couples still do not decide on price alone, and rightly so in my view.
Who carries the wish for children, who has been through a pregnancy already, and how the relationship stands all weigh in. So I am not telling you which of the two to choose.
What I will say: if the conversation at your kitchen table is only about her while the smaller and cheaper procedure sits with you, that is worth raising.
What else does it cost besides the bill?
Time, and a follow-up check. Thuisarts.nl, the patient site of the Dutch College of General Practitioners (NHG), describes a procedure of about half an hour. After that come one to two days off work, a week without heavy work or cycling, and five days without sex. Then comes the most important step.
Because you are not infertile straight away.
According to Thuisarts it takes two to three months before no sperm cells remain, and you keep using contraception until then. After roughly three months you hand a semen sample in at the laboratory, and sometimes a second check is needed.
So count those days off in your sum. Two days not working is a real cost on top of the fee if you are self-employed.
That check runs through the clinic that performed the procedure. We do not perform vasectomies, we do not sell them, and we do not run that semen check. What such a result looks like is explained in semen analysis values.
The day-by-day version of recovery is in recovery time after a vasectomy.
And the cost if you change your mind?
Higher, with a less certain outcome. A repair operation is not in the basic insurance and costs more than the original procedure. Thuisarts is brief about it: reversal is difficult and often fails, and men usually stay less fertile afterwards.
Ask a clinic for a quote if this applies to you, because the amounts vary.
More important than the price is the success rate, and that depends heavily on how many years sit in between. The full breakdown is in reversing a vasectomy.
What else does and does not change long term is listed in long-term disadvantages, and the full story on the procedure is in vasectomy: how it works.
One aside: the only health cost we are involved in sits apart from all this. If you feel flat after your sterilisation, the research does not point at the procedure, and some men then have their hormones looked at with the Hormones Man panel. Always discuss an abnormal result with your GP.
Pull out your policy document tonight and search for the word sterilisation. It costs you two minutes, and it is the only amount in this article that is actually about you.
Sources
- Thuisarts (NHG). Sterilisatie bij man. thuisarts.nl
- Consumentenbond. Vergoeding sterilisatie 2026. consumentenbond.nl
- Andros Clinics. Sterilisatie man, 2026 rate. andros.nl
Every blood test result at Caliber includes a professional assessment from a BIG-registered doctor. For treatment decisions, always discuss your results with your GP.
الكاتب
