[Arguendo]

What does that even mean? Obviously no patient is “futile” if a treatment exists that may save him, but the actual decision people face is whether to pursue a certain treatment. The decision will depend on whether the treatment is futile or not.

My question is, should anyone other than the patient or his family be forced to pay for a futile treatment?

[BykrBayb]

Depends—the whole point is different people will have different definitions of futile, but I’m talking about someone who’s in bad enough shape an insurance company judges further treatment (beyond basic quality-of-life stuff) to be futile, under a set of criteria known when the policy was purchased.

You just defined the person as having become futile, not the treatment. You described a person whose quality of life is so low, the insurance company gets to decide they don't get treatment that someone with a better quality of life would get. That's not futile care. It's futile patient. And I don't play that game.