FYI - Some VERY GOOD food for thought from Congressman Ron Paul and the Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity (http://ronpaulinstitute.org/).
#LiveFree
#PushBack
#LeftLibertarian
#ProgressiveLibertarian
-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"
#LiveFree
#PushBack
#LeftLibertarian
#ProgressiveLibertarian
-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"
July 15, 2013
|
Let Market Forces Solve Organ Transplant Crisis
Ten-year old cystic fibrosis patient Sarah Murnaghan
captured the nation’s attention when federal bureaucrats imposed a de facto
death sentence on her by refusing to modify the rules governing organ
transplants. The rules in question forbid children under 12 from receiving
transplants of adult organs. Even though Sarah’s own physician said she was an
excellent candidate to receive an adult organ transplant, government officials
refused to even consider modifying their rules.
Fortunately, a federal judge intervened so Sarah received
the lung transplant. But the welcome decision in this case does not change the
need to end government control of organ donations and repeal the federal ban on
compensating organ donors.
Supporters of the current system claim that organ donation
is too important to be left to the marketplace. But this is nonsensical: if we
trust the market to deliver food, shelter, and all other necessities, why
should we not trust it to deliver healthcare—including organs?
It is also argued that it is “uncompassionate” or “immoral”
to allow patients or insurance companies to
provide compensation to donors. But one of the reasons the waiting lists for
transplants is so long, with many Americans dying before receiving a
transplant, is because of a shortage of organs. If organ donors, or their
heirs, were compensated for donating, more people would have an incentive to
become organ donors.
Those who oppose allowing patients to purchase organs should
ask themselves how compassionate is it to allow those people to die on the
transplant waiting list who might otherwise have lived if they were able to
obtain organs though private contracts.
Some are concerned that if organ donations were supplied via
the market instead of through government regulation, those with lower incomes
would be effectively denied access to donated organs. This ignores our current
two-tier system for allocating organs, as the wealthy can travel overseas for
transplants if they cannot receive a transplant in America. Allowing the free
market to alleviate the shortage of organs and reduce the costs of medial
procedures like transplants would benefit the middle class and the poor, not
the wealthy.
The costs of obtaining organs would likely be covered by
most health insurance plans, thus
reducing the costs directly borne by individual patients. Furthermore, if
current federal laws distorting the health care market are repealed, procedures
such as transplants would be much more affordable. Expanded access to health
savings accounts and flexible savings accounts, combined with generous
individual tax deductions and credits, would also make it easier for people to
afford health care procedures such as transplants.
There is also some hypocrisy in the argument against
allowing market forces in organ transplants. Everyone else involved in organ
transplantation procedures, including doctors, nurses, and even the hospital
janitor, receives compensation. Not even the most extreme proponent of
government-provided health care advocates forcing medical professionals to provide
care without compensation. Hospitals and other private institutions provide
compensation for blood and plasma donations, and men and women are compensated
for donations to fertility clinics, so why
not allow compensation for organ donation?
Sarah Murnaghan’s case shows the fallacy in thinking that a
free-market system for organ donations is less moral or less effective than a
government-controlled system. It is only the bureaucrats who put adherence to
arbitrary rules ahead of the life of a ten-year old child. It is time for
Congress to wake up and see that markets work better in all aspects of health
care, including organ donation, just as they work better in providing all other
goods and services.
Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly
granted, provided full credit is given.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment