Belgium’s mandatory health insurance to cover euthanasia costs

Brussels – From November 1, in Belgium, euthanasia will be fully reimbursed by health insurance, so patients and their families will no longer have to bear the costs.

 Belgian doctors will receive an official fee of EUR 180.24 for performing euthanasia, according to an announcement by the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (Riziv).

Until now, Belgium’s very generous mandatory health insurance system did not cover euthanasia. By adding it to the reimbursement system, the cost—including materials, the procedure itself, confirmation of death, and completion of official documents—will be covered.

Belgium legalized euthanasia in 2002, and more recently, granted it also to minors, with parental consent. The condition for access is that the patient must be in a state of constant and unbearable physical or psychological suffering, caused by an incurable illness or the consequences of an accident, and that the request must be in writing, voluntary, well-considered, and repeated. 

According to data from the Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia, in 2024, the Commission received and examined 3,991 euthanasia registration documents, an increase of 16.6 percent from 2023. Euthanasia accounted for 3.6 percent of all registered deaths in Belgium in 2024, from 3.1 percent in 2023 (source: Statbel, 20.01.2024).

In bilingual Belgium, the number of registration documents drafted in Dutch increased by 25 percent, while those in French decreased slightly (from 1,001 in 2023 to 949 in 2024). 

The majority of the patients concerned were over 70 years old (72.6 percent), of whom 43.2 percent were over 80 years old. Euthanasia in patients under 40 years of age remained rare (1.3 percent). 

One case of euthanasia involving a minor was reported in 2024, bringing the total number of cases to six since the law’s extension to minors in 2014.