We’ve written repeatedly on the shortage of human organs for transplantation, and the different incentives that are being offered to produce more donated organs. Among the incentives: a commemorative medal and a shorter prison term. Now a reader named Ronald Wielink writes to tell us that in the Netherlands, a funeral insurance company is offering to cut funeral costs by 150 euros if the deceased has donated an organ. (Here’s a brief link in English; here’s one in Dutch.)
As Wielink explains, this incentive came about from urging by the Kidney Foundation charity. The donors get either a discount on their funeral insurance or a discount on the burial cost itself. “There are also some M.P.’s,” he writes, “who propose that organ donors should get a discount on government fees, e.g. getting a passport.”
I had two initial reactions to hearing about this incentive:
1. Creating a connection between donating an organ and your own death wouldn’t seem to be the most appealing incentive.
2. Funeral insurance? What the heck is funeral insurance? Surely such folly doesn’t exist in the U.S., right? Wrong. As someone who tries to buy as little insurance as humanly possible, I cannot think of many forms of insurance that are less worthwhile. Can you?
(Hat tip to Dan Sage too; also, Marginal Revolution blogged about this a while back.)
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On point 1., if people know that signing an organ donor card leads them (or their estate) to get 150 Euros at death, then a person who wished to was planning on leaving a 25,000 Euro estate could do so with 24,850 Euros and go out for a nice dinner now. Thus, for those who plan a bequest, a payment after death is as good as one right now. Of course, the discount of 150 Euros is probably just a marketing scam, with nearly everyone qualifying for such a discount for many reasons. (For example, pulling nearly any membership card out of your wallet at a motel will get you the same discount as a AAA card, so the AAA discount is not a reason to join AAA.)
On point 1., if people know that signing an organ donor card leads them (or their estate) to get 150 Euros at death, then a person who wished to was planning on leaving a 25,000 Euro estate could do so with 24,850 Euros and go out for a nice dinner now. Thus, for those who plan a bequest, a payment after death is as good as one right now. Of course, the discount of 150 Euros is probably just a marketing scam, with nearly everyone qualifying for such a discount for many reasons. (For example, pulling nearly any membership card out of your wallet at a motel will get you the same discount as a AAA card, so the AAA discount is not a reason to join AAA.)
I agree with comment #3 above, I believe that funeral insurance is very worthwhile. I have it myself (I am Dutch, 33 years old). The main reason is that I do not want to leave a huge bill for my relatives to settle.
Why do you believe it is useless? Certainly you could put aside some money yourself and save towards paying your funeral, but you may die young… Also the cost is quite cheap, I believe I pay something like 40 Euros per year.
I agree with comment #3 above, I believe that funeral insurance is very worthwhile. I have it myself (I am Dutch, 33 years old). The main reason is that I do not want to leave a huge bill for my relatives to settle.
Why do you believe it is useless? Certainly you could put aside some money yourself and save towards paying your funeral, but you may die young… Also the cost is quite cheap, I believe I pay something like 40 Euros per year.
I recently read a paper “Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics” by Daniel Kahneman, in which he referenced work done by Johnson and Goldstein called “Do Defaults Save Lives?” (2003). The pertinent statistic from his mentioning was: in countries where participation in organ donation is automatic and you have to file to be removed from the program, participation is 97.4%, and where participation is not the default, a mere 18% donates.
It seams to me the solution is to change the default in the US, not to provide incentives.
I recently read a paper “Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics” by Daniel Kahneman, in which he referenced work done by Johnson and Goldstein called “Do Defaults Save Lives?” (2003). The pertinent statistic from his mentioning was: in countries where participation in organ donation is automatic and you have to file to be removed from the program, participation is 97.4%, and where participation is not the default, a mere 18% donates.
It seams to me the solution is to change the default in the US, not to provide incentives.
the funeral industry is a scam- profits are made here by exploiting the bereaved
the funeral industry is a scam- profits are made here by exploiting the bereaved