On Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed off on a law that would allow terminally ill patients in California to end their lives through doctor-assisted suicide.

That makes California the fifth state with right-to-die provisions, along with Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

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In a post about California’s new law in the News community, Reddit user lordmycal had a question about how the legislation affects certain life insurance policies:

Actually, the definitions of terms are the biggest things the law changes. This statute, and statutes like it, contains very specific language that details who legally can end their lives and how, says John Mangan, the regional vice president for state relations for the American Council of Life Insurers.

Mangan has become familiar with right-to-die laws in his 13 years with the life insurance advocacy group; his region covers states, such as Oregon and Washington, which also have legislated the issue.

By carefully defining the aid-in-dying parameters, the California law ensures “it won’t be suicide as defined by an insurance contract,” Mangan explains.

“The state is very cautious,” he adds. “The definition is very narrow.”

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Reddit user CTTHill pointed out the legislation’s relevant language in Section 443.13:

“[D]eath resulting from the self-administration of an aid-in-dying drug is not suicide, and therefore health and insurance coverage shall not be exempted on that basis.”

Ultimately, the ACIL is neutral when it comes to right-to-die laws, Mangan says. What the group looks out for in situations concerning doctor-assisted suicide is fraud and individuals trying to bilk insurance companies out of a big payday. Insurers don’t want people lying about their health, taking out million-dollar policies and then killing themselves soon after for the financial gain of their families.

That’s why most policies include the following stipulations, Mangan said:

a prior medical exam to see if the individual is insurable within the company’s health standards

a two-year exclusion that will not pay out if the insured commits suicide within that timeframe

If an individual did, however, come down with a terminal disease right after taking out the policy and then ended his or her life legally in a right-to-die state, the policy would payout, Mangan said, although those cases are as rare as they are tragic.

Bottom line: In states with right-to-die laws, aid-in-dying efforts or doctor-assisted suicide doesn’t equal suicide in the eyes of insurance companies.