Insurers would pay 'assisted death' claims

By July 30, 2017 Recent News

Stuff co.nz 30 July 2017
Deeply conservative life insurers could cope with voluntary euthanasia, should it become legal in New Zealand.
But MPs may have to pass laws to ensure insurers always pay up in cases where terminally ill people opt for medical aid to end their suffering.
The fourth attempt at legalising voluntary euthanasia has made headlines, though isn’t now expected to be debated by Parliament until after the September general election.
If it became law, ACT MP David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill would allow terminally ill adults likely to die in the next six months to have willing medical professionals provide them with a drug-induced death.
Under Seymour’s proposed law, people suffering unbearably from an incurable medical condition, would also have the right to an assisted death.
Insurance experts say the advent of voluntary euthanasia wouldn’t create a spike in death claims, though insurers would end up making some payments earlier.
Russell Hutchinson from Chatswood Consulting polled life insurers on how they would respond to assisted death claims, but most refused to answer his questions.
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/95073867/insurers-would-pay-assisted-death-claims

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