Life insurers must pay out in instances where death has occurred as a result of assisted suicide or euthanasia, according to a carve-out in the new French assisted dying law. This has raised concerns that this will create an “economic incentive” to end your life by assisted dying under the new law.
A provision in France’s new law announced earlier this week by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, requires that life insurance policies pay out in instances where an individual’s death is the result of assisted suicide or euthanasia, according to The Telegraph.
This rule will also apply to life insurance policies that were taken out before the assisted suicide and euthanasia law came into force.
Suicide exclusion clauses, which are common in many insurance policies for the first 12months, will not be able to be used to withhold payouts for individuals who end their lives by assisted suicide and euthanasia.
The issue emerged during the Senate debate before assisted suicide and euthanasia became law, as critics of the issue pointed out that obliging insurance providers to pay out in the case of assisted suicide and euthanasia would provide an “economic incentive to resort to assisted dying”.
Under new French law, people who are not terminally ill could be allowed to end their lives
Despite the fact that the Senate, the upper house of the French Parliament, rejected the Bill three times, the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament, ultimately adopted the new assisted suicide and euthanasia law on 15 July 2026.
The legislation was then referred to the Constitutional Council – the highest constitutional authority in France – five times by the French Prime Minister, the President of the Senate, more than 60 senators, and two separate groups of more than 60 members of the National Assembly. Despite the concerns raised, the Council ruled that the legislation was constitutional on 14 August.
The new law does not require someone seeking to end their life by assisted suicide or euthanasia to be expected to die within a 6 or 12-month period or any defined period of time.
Applicants must have a “serious and incurable condition” which is “life-threatening” and is in an “advanced” or “terminal phase”. These criteria have raised concern among some groups representing people with disabilities in France that people with disabilities could come within the scope of the law, especially through the refusal of treatment, which could make a person eligible for assisted suicide or euthanasia.
A debate in the National Assembly last year heard opponents of the Bill make precisely this charge, arguing that an incurable but treatable disease could be made “life-threatening” through the refusal of treatment.
Under the new law, a psychiatric diagnosis or intellectual disability would not automatically disqualify someone who otherwise met the eligibility criteria from ending their life by assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is scandalous that under the new assisted dying law in France, people could be financially motivated to end their own lives by assisted suicide and euthanasia to avail of life insurance payouts”.
“This also creates clear concerns relating to coercion and who may benefit from a loved one’s death”.
“Assisted suicide and euthanasia have only just been made legal in France, and already there are scandals in the making that seem almost inevitable”.
