I shared my thoughts on this when an article on the concept was previously shared here This will exploit poor people for their organs on behalf of rich people. And there's zero guarantee of...
Exemplary
I shared my thoughts on this when an article on the concept was previously shared here
This will exploit poor people for their organs on behalf of rich people. And there's zero guarantee of healthcare coverage for every medically vulnerable person that's been created. Where's the cost consideration for all these people with a single kidney for the rest of their lives? Because $50k won't cover it.
Ironically getting that money will also kick most poor recipients off financial assistance, due to incomes/assets above means testing levels. While not being enough to cover healthcare costs much less that plus groceries or what have you. Poorer people are also less likely to have jobs that offer sick days, so they're going to be at higher risk of being fired, even for donating.
Tax advance companies will benefit. Poor people will get exploited.
If I knew I didn't have to pay healthcare OOP for the rest of my life I'd probably donate a kidney. But I can't afford the risk at my income.and I'm not poor by these standards.
Yeah, I think this type of paid organ donation would ring alarm bells for me on an ethical level even if the people donating were guaranteed to have their healthcare costs covered in perpetuity in...
Yeah, I think this type of paid organ donation would ring alarm bells for me on an ethical level even if the people donating were guaranteed to have their healthcare costs covered in perpetuity in a robust public healthcare system. But without that factor it goes beyond just concerning and to deeply, obviously exploitative of the poor.
For sure, guaranteed healthcare does not entirely address the concerns I'd have with paid donation either. But it's the bare minimum I could think of that might make it ok. Personally I think...
For sure, guaranteed healthcare does not entirely address the concerns I'd have with paid donation either. But it's the bare minimum I could think of that might make it ok.
Personally I think guaranteed healthcare would boost voluntary donations in the right marketing environment, but that might just be me.
Yeah this is icky on so many levels. 50k isn’t enough. They’ll only get really really desperate people who don’t think through their decisions with 50k. Organ donation shouldn’t be for any other...
Yeah this is icky on so many levels. 50k isn’t enough. They’ll only get really really desperate people who don’t think through their decisions with 50k.
Organ donation shouldn’t be for any other reason than love.
Over 90,000 Americans are waiting for kidney transplants, with thousands dying each year. For those who get dialysis, the treatment is painful and exhausting. Thirty-seven percent of patients were forced to quit their jobs. The five-year death rate is similar to brain cancer.
Now, over 40 years since the National Organ Transplantation Act of 1984 made compensating kidney donors illegal in the United States, there might be hope. The End Kidney Deaths Act, a new piece of legislation to offer a $50,000 refundable tax credit to all non-directed kidney donors, spread out over five years. It has gained bipartisan support and a steadily growing number of cosponsors, including most recently Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. This will hopefully be the year when compensating kidney donors becomes possible again.
The current system of kidney donation based on goodwill has failed. Living kidney donations have stayed flat at around 6,000 per year for a quarter century despite the growing waitlist: 9,000 people were on the kidney waitlist in 1984, while 90,000 are waiting now. From 2010 to 2021, over 100,000 Americans died while on the kidney waitlist or became too sick to remain eligible.
...
In addition to the human cost, the kidney shortage is a massive financial drain. End-stage renal disease occupies a unique position in American healthcare policy. Since 1972, it has been the one of two specific conditions (the other being ALS) for which Medicare provides universal coverage regardless of age, and without the standard 24-month waiting period for Social Security Disability Insurance. Effectively, a limited form of medicare for all. Congress made this exception in 1972 because the treatment for kidney failure, dialysis or transplantation, is essential, costly, and often not covered by private insurance.
Currently, approximately 550,000 Americans receive Medicare-funded dialysis, costing around $82,000 per patient annually. This expense consumes over one percent of the entire federal budget, or more than six times NASA's budget. Because transplants are much cheaper than dialysis, eliminating the kidney shortage by compensating donation would likely save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
I have very mixed feelings about this. While saving more people is obviously good, it being a tax credit doesn't really change that it is effectively a way for the financially vulnerable to sell...
I have very mixed feelings about this. While saving more people is obviously good, it being a tax credit doesn't really change that it is effectively a way for the financially vulnerable to sell pieces of their bodies.
But there's obviously the problem of that without compensation it ranges from neutral to negative for any given individual. I'd guess that there are already other "perks", like maybe being bumped to the front of the donor wait list if you're a live donor, but those have obviously not been enough.
I don't know what the answer is. Money just feels not quite right to me.
I feel this should both be a much larger sum and only apply as a tax credit for income above a certain amount. Only let the people making decent money opt into this.
I feel this should both be a much larger sum and only apply as a tax credit for income above a certain amount. Only let the people making decent money opt into this.
I shared my thoughts on this when an article on the concept was previously shared here
This will exploit poor people for their organs on behalf of rich people. And there's zero guarantee of healthcare coverage for every medically vulnerable person that's been created. Where's the cost consideration for all these people with a single kidney for the rest of their lives? Because $50k won't cover it.
Ironically getting that money will also kick most poor recipients off financial assistance, due to incomes/assets above means testing levels. While not being enough to cover healthcare costs much less that plus groceries or what have you. Poorer people are also less likely to have jobs that offer sick days, so they're going to be at higher risk of being fired, even for donating.
Tax advance companies will benefit. Poor people will get exploited.
If I knew I didn't have to pay healthcare OOP for the rest of my life I'd probably donate a kidney. But I can't afford the risk at my income.and I'm not poor by these standards.
Yeah, I think this type of paid organ donation would ring alarm bells for me on an ethical level even if the people donating were guaranteed to have their healthcare costs covered in perpetuity in a robust public healthcare system. But without that factor it goes beyond just concerning and to deeply, obviously exploitative of the poor.
For sure, guaranteed healthcare does not entirely address the concerns I'd have with paid donation either. But it's the bare minimum I could think of that might make it ok.
Personally I think guaranteed healthcare would boost voluntary donations in the right marketing environment, but that might just be me.
Yeah this is icky on so many levels. 50k isn’t enough. They’ll only get really really desperate people who don’t think through their decisions with 50k.
Organ donation shouldn’t be for any other reason than love.
From the article:
...
I have very mixed feelings about this. While saving more people is obviously good, it being a tax credit doesn't really change that it is effectively a way for the financially vulnerable to sell pieces of their bodies.
But there's obviously the problem of that without compensation it ranges from neutral to negative for any given individual. I'd guess that there are already other "perks", like maybe being bumped to the front of the donor wait list if you're a live donor, but those have obviously not been enough.
I don't know what the answer is. Money just feels not quite right to me.
I feel this should both be a much larger sum and only apply as a tax credit for income above a certain amount. Only let the people making decent money opt into this.