Five health insurers on Monday announced a discount of up to €120 for policy-holders who register whether or not they wish to donate their organs after death.

The move is intended to increase the number of registrations, say insurers Fortis, Ohra, Menzis, Achmea and Turien.
The system will be monitored by the private insurance broker SEZ, which says the discount should not be seen as a reward for people who become donors. ‘We are not allowed to discriminate on the basis of organ donation. This [discount] is offered purely for registering whether or not someone wants to be a donor,’ said SEZ’s Nils Karssens.
According to the Telegraaf some 1,400 people are currently waiting for a kidney, lung or heart transplant and around 160 patients a year die while waiting for an organ.
Tilburg-based health insurance company CZ told NOS tv that it opposes the initiative. CZ says it does all sorts of things to boost organ donation. ‘But we do not think you should give a financial incentive,’ spokeswoman Marie-José van Gardingen said.
And Erasmus University medical ethics expert Gert van Dijk said the initiative was first and foremost a commercial one. ‘It is an attempt to get new policy-holders,’ he told NOS. ‘One new donor means you need between 25,000 and 50,000 new donor registrations. This plan is not going to achieve that.’
The health ministry says it is happy with any initiative that could lead to more organ donations, reports the NRC.