The Law of 4 April 2014 on insurance (Insurance Law) already had a provision relating to suicide in the context of life insurance (in which the risk of death is insured). The insurer must always provide cover if the insured person dies as a result of suicide one year or more after the policy has come into effect. Death by suicide within the first year after the policy starts is excluded from cover.
However, this provision only applies to life insurance and therefore could not be applied to other personal insurance policies, including health cost insurance covering areas such as hospitalisation or ambulatory costs.
Costs arising from a suicide attempt are not covered by the various hospitalisation insurance policies on the market. Insurers have been able to refuse to pay out in such cases, because suicide is classified as an intentional act, which is an explicit exclusion ground in the Insurance Law.
The law of 21 April 2024 adds a new provision to the Insurance Law that prohibits insurers from excluding costs resulting from a suicide attempt from health cost insurance. Moreover, insurers may not refuse to provide health insurance cover – or charge an additional premium – due to a prior suicide attempt.
Note that the new provisions only apply to health cost insurance
policies. Exclusions, refusals or additional premiums due to a prior suicide attempt are therefore still possible in the context of other health insurance policies such as guaranteed income insurance.
Finally, the law states that anyone who has attempted suicide must report this to the insurer when arranging a health insurance policy. If more than one year has passed since this attempt, the insurer may not take it into account when determining the current state of health of the insured.
Feel free to contact your Employee Benefits Account Manager at Vanbreda Risk & Benefits.
