Some are proposing free medicare for life as a reward to encourage organ donation.
Altruism is abeautiful[emphasis mine] virtue, but it has fallen painfully short of its goal. We must be bold and experiment with offering prospective donors other incentives for giving, not necessarily payment but material reward of some kind “” perhaps something as simple as offering donors lifelong Medicare coverage. Or maybe Congress should grant waivers so that states can implement their own creative ways of giving something to donors: tax credits, tuition vouchers or a contribution to a giver’s retirement account.
Laughable.
(hat tip: Healthcare Economist)
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Better idea: let the free market dictate decide what organs are worth.
One way is economically sustainable. One way is not. Guess which is which?
I work in the plastic surgery industry, with a doctor performing Simi Valley cosmetic surgery, and although we don’t do it, the worst gift ever in my opinion is gifting cosmetic/plastic surgery. There are some surgeons in LA, of course, who even sell gift cards. It’s a horrible trend, because as many have written (i think the NYTimes had an article about it), the recipient is likely happy with their body, or they would have sought out options to enhance/rejuvenate. So, it makes the person wonder what’s wrong with them. Also, because it’s a gift (and probably an expensive one), the recipient tends to ignore risks /recovery aspects simply because they feel like they have to have the surgery because of how much money was spent on the gift. Worst. gift. ever… in my opinion.
Hey, I’ve donated over 64 units of blood. That’s something like 4 complete blood volumes and ought to count as at least a couple of organs….
But really, I hope to do better for my health care than medicare, so I’m not going to push this one.
Sorry, don’t really understand your comment at the end. Would you say this proposition is more laughable than giving free medical care to adults over the age of 65?
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