Amsterdam - Dutch health care insurers are to give a discount to clients registered as organ donors, reports said Monday. Four major health insurers said they would give a 120-euro- discount (152 dollars) on the annual fee for basic health insurance cover, which will be 1,200 euros for adults in 2009.
The Netherlands has a national health care system which provides basic cover to all Dutch citizens. People choose their own health care insurer among the more than 100 companies active on the market.
Donor organ shortage has been a structural problem in the Netherlands for many years. Organ donor registration is voluntary and only a small minority is registered as donors.
In November, Dutch broadcaster BNN won a US Emmy award for its controversial reality television programme The Great Donor Show aired in May 2007.
In the show, kidney patients tried to win a kidney transplant from a terminally ill woman. Towards the end of the show, the producers revealed it was a hoax intended as a wake-up call to put the problem of donor organ shortages on the agenda.
Despite the enormous national and international media attention the show received, the political debate on the issue has stalled.
Early November the Dutch parliament rejected a bill under which all Dutch nationals would automatically become organ donors unless they formally objected.
Dutch Health Minister Ab Klink said permission to donate organs remains necessary, either from the donor or his immediate family.
