Discount on health insurance via Organ Donation
>from Telegraaf.nl
In Holland four health insurance companies announced to give a 9-10% discount on their prices if you are registered to be an organ-donor. This is a collective discount the organ organization arranged at those companies. Probably we are not the only country in the world who have an incredible shortage on organs.
If you see the reactions of people…. they go from extremely positive to extremely negative….
My opinion…??
Well – I am rather “radical”…..
First of all; I am NOT registered as a donor…… BUT I do have always paperwork with me – which is stating that I am a donor. This just has to do with a little of fear…. getting into the hospital…… and they can see on the popup screen on the computer that I am willing to leave my organ to the guy in the next room…. uh…. so “are we going to fix Sjeltur or not…??”…..
But okay – that said;
I do think that people who are not registered (uh… well…. who are not willing to donate!!) should be on the bottom of the list at the moment they are in need of a new kidney/liver/whatever….
So; I really have no problem if people getting a discount on their health plan – at the moment they are registered…
The negative people are talking about “this is selling”….. “what about people who are not able to donate… because of religion – illness”?”….
Can I say “I don’t care”…??
Yes – I can…. BUT I also have some arguments;
We have a system of a solid price for health insurance…. Insurance companies are able/allowed to give a discount to “large group” of new customers.
I do have a discount via my job…. other people via other organizations…. – so I am not able to get this discount anymore; But other people have lots of opportunities to get the same kind of discount… if they really do not want to give their organs!
But I just hope that we get a few people more on the organ list….. and even if we get 100 more…..!
Being negative about “big profits for the insurance companies” and “a kidney is more worth than 120 euro”….. and that kind of statements;
Yes – a kidney is way more worth to the PERSON WHO NEEDS IT !!!
I don’t think it will help to increase the number of organs available in absolute numbers, it can only make the decline of available organs somewhat smaller. The focus is entirely on ideas how to increase the number of potential donors, but something else is far more important: how those organs actually become available.
By far most organs become available after a traffic accident. Other causes of death yield much less good quality organs. So we depend on the number of victims in traffic, and the reason we have a shortage of organs is because the number of people dying in traffic is declining. Let’s look at The Netherlands, in 1970 there were 3200 people killed in traffic, in 1999 it was down to 1200, and last year it was less than 800.
This plan to get more potential donors doesn’t help that much to get more organs. We can perhaps expect a little less steep decline of available organs if they go ahead with this plan, but it will not increase the absolute number of available organs. Even if everybody was a potential donor, there would still be a shortage, simply because the number of deadly traffic accidents is not high enough to satisfy demand.
You are right about this; but in all honesty….. even the smallest amount is helping !! And hey…. the money of the discount is the same as I have and already other thousands of people….. Only this time it can organize a little run on this registration…..
It depends on how much money it costs. If a large number of people do the registration and get the discount, the health care system will receive less money and that hole has to be filled. So it will cost money, then the question is, what is a reasonable amount? Or in other words, how many people can participate before it will costs too much money and more lives are saved just by spending the money in the health care system as they do now, instead of giving discounts…
Personally I don’t think it cost any money…
Via work/clubs/auto club organisation/other insurances; everybody can get this same discount….
It is NOT an extra discount…. it is just one of those “collectieve verzekeringen”….
So people who have already the discount via work/club etc don’t have the incentive to register for donation, so it’s not likely this group will sign up.
Only the people who don’t get any discount right now are signing up, then the question is, how many? It’s not a succes if only a few people sign up, and not a success if a large number of people do. A large number of people will costs money, and that hole has to be filled. I doubt it you can just put it on ‘it’s just one of those “collectieve verzekeringen” ‘ if many people sign up, there will be less money coming in. If I pay 1200 euros now, and I pay 1080 euros after I sign up, then there is a hole of 120 euros. So it will costs money, one way or another…
Nah – it is “less profit – but more paying customers” principal.
With more customers – they are able to buy more for less money. And that is the 12 euro per month rebate.
As you know – it is only 4 companies who do that; and the principle is; “stealing customers” from the other ones….
As the whole principle of “collectieve verzekering” is based on.
The one difference is; this one is serving a good cause !
One of the arguments is “the more registrations – the easier the job gets”….. and one of the other argument (which I do think is a good one); “this will draw AGAIN the attention to the fact that we do NOT have enough donors”= so – more to keep the debate going… like we do!
From your response I have strongly the feeling we are paying too much for our health insurance…
You’re right it draws at least the attention on the subject, and that’s a good thing.
ooooh you didn’t have that feeling already..??
Well; the insurance companies only exist because they can make profit… Not because “the like us”…
But it even seems that you get the discount when you make a registration; so – it doesn’t matter if you say “yes” or “no” to being a donor…..
I still thing it is a good thing!
Yes, we pay for the profits… Even when its about health care. You would expect there is a sytem in place that maximizes the effect of the money poured in. No such luck…
I would just like to point one thing out: you don’t have to be a donor to get this discount. You only have to registre. So even if you are not able to donate or won’t becaue of personal reasons, registre as ‘no’ and you will be able to get the discount too.
This will mostly work to give those people that want to be a donor but are not registered, that extra little push to sign the form. There are a lot of people who want to donate, but won’t for whatever reason (like the one given in this blog: though I think it is a very weak one, perhaps some research in medical ethics?) and perhaps this will get them to cross that line.
Not every death person has organs that are usable to donate: but the more people sign up, the more organs you will have. Even if it is just ten kidneys more: that are ten people who will be helped.
In Belgium you wait less than a year for a kidney, in the Netherlands at least four. 20% percent of all people on the waitinglist for a kidney die each year.
Thanx Sabrina for the comment;
The reason part; yep – I do know it is a “weak one”. But on the other hand saying “medical ethics” = it is still a human who is deciding and uh…. sorry – but the ethics of humans….
But furthermore – I agree with you. Though – I am wondering = how is it possible that they have a shorter waiting list in Belgium? Is everybody registered over there..??
It’s interesting to compare the situation in Belgium with The Netherlands, but first we have to get the numbers right. The claim that you wait “less than a year” for a kidney in Belgium is unsupported. In fact, pretty recent statistics from Eurotransplant (1) show that the waiting period in Belgium for a kidney is actually 31 months…
That’s shorter than in The Netherlands, but this has everything to do with the difference in donorpotential. Traffic accidents, CVAs (cerebrovascular accident), and other accidents are the main sources for organs. A quick look at (2) tells us that the number of people that die in Belgium with these causes of death is much higher than in The Netherlands. Despite a much lower donorpotential compared to Belgium, The Netherlands is actually doing a pretty good job.
Belgium has a system of opting-out of presumed consent (“geen bezwaar-systeem”), but these numbers show that the much higher donorpotential compared to The Netherlands is the real cause of the shorter waiting period. The relationship between this system and the waiting period is very weak, at best.
The Belgians pay a high price for this ineffective system: the state is the owner of their organs, unless they protest. That’s just plain wrong.
(1): http://www.vhla.be/statistieken1.html
(2): http://www.wordorgaandonor.nl/actueel/nieuws/nieuwsdetail.cfm?nieuws_id=83
As an organ recipient I’m a bit prejudiced. It only took one organ to give me 18 years (and counting) of a new and healthy life. Every person that donates can potentially save something like 8 lives. I believe that everyone should be encouraged to register to donate. It’s unfortunate that people don’t do it for altruistic reasons but if it takes an incentive like an insurance discount to get more people to register I’m all for it.
The author mentioned that it might be against someone’s religion but all major organized religions approve of organ and tissue donation and consider it an act of charity.
The fear of being allowed to die so that your organs can be used to save lives is a myth.
If you are sick or injured and admitted to the hospital, the number one priority is to save your life, not the life of someone awaiting an organ. Organ donation can only be considered after brain death has been declared by a physician.
Someone mentioned that you need not be in pristine health to register to be a donor. Everyone can register and the viability of organs and tissue can be determined after death.
I agree with you that people who aren’t willing to donate should be put at the bottom of the list if they need an organ. I believe that idea came up a few years ago but was shot down because it discriminated against certain immigrant populations whose number of registered donors was low.