'Pay' organ donors with free health cover

[okarol]

'Pay' organ donors with free health cover

Monday 12 November 2007

People who donate a kidney while still living should be entitled to free healthcare for life, says the healthcare council RVZ.

In a report into stimulating organ donation financially, the RVZ says in terms of both moral and practical considerations, a financial boost to encourage organ donation is ‘worth considering’.

At the moment it is illegal for a living donor to donate a kidney for money. The waiting list for a new kidney is over four years, and the shortage means patients are increasingly turning to ‘the illegal trade in kidneys from living donors, with all the misunderstandings that entails,’ the RVZ says.

But giving a donor free health insurance would do the most to remove the feeling that organs are not something that should be paid for, the report says.

Another advantage is that people from poorer backgrounds would be encouraged to donate - over a lifetime the payouts could mount up to €40,000. Some 40% of kidney transplants in the Netherlands come from family members or partners.

The council has asked health minister Ab Klink to research the cost-effectiveness of its plans and to find out if the idea has popular support. Klink is due to present his plans to tackled the shortage of organ donors next March.

The issue of organ donation took centre stage in the Netherlands earlier this year when a tv show launched a spoof ‘win a kidney’ reality show competition.

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2007/11/free_health_insurance_for_livi.php

[Hippy]

That would help but the Dutch have Universal Health care. This is what is needed in the States.

[kitkatz]

Oh sure. Pay through the nose for the rest of their lives for donating an organ?

[KT0930]

Sounds like a good idea to me.

[okarol]

After the extensive testing that living donors have to go through to qualify as a a donor, they are considered to be healthier than the average person. Covering their future medical costs is probably not a huge expense.

[okarol]

Dutch lawmaker: No free health insurance for kidney donors
Posted : Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:45:08 GMT

Amsterdam - Kidney donors should not be rewarded by having their health insurance fees waived for the rest of their life after donating their kidney, legislator Pieter van Geel said on Tuesday. Van Geel, faction leader of the Christian Democrats in the Dutch parliament, responded to a proposal by the Council for Public Health Care (RVZ) to grant kidney donors free health insurance.

The leader of the Christian Democrats, the biggest government coalition party, said it would be "very serious if this policy were to be implemented."

Van Geel said he objected to creating financial reasons for people to donate one of their organs.

Health Minister Ab Klink, also of the Christian Democrats and who is preparing a plan to increase organ donation in the Netherlands, has not yet responded to the RVZ proposal.

Kidney donation features high on the Dutch political agenda since May when public broadcaster BNN aired the Big Organ Donation Show.

The television programme was presented as a show during which a woman who was purportedly ill would donate a kidney to one of three recipients. Ultimately, the show turned out to be a practical joke.

The woman was in fact an actress, but the three would-be recipients were genuinely ill.

During the show, some 12,000 viewers sent a free SMS to a special number set up by BNN to register as organ donors, while a similar number followed in the weeks after the show.

The show attracted worldwide attention and moved Klink, who was very critical of the TV programme, to draft a new plan to increase the number of available donor organs in the Netherlands.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/141037.html

[okarol]

From The Sunday Times
November 18, 2007
Dutch may give financial reward to kidney donors
Nicola Smith and Aaron Gray-Block, Amsterdam

THE Dutch health minister, Ab Klink, is considering a recommendation to offer free health insurance for life to anyone who donates a kidney for transplant.

The initiative has been prompted by a chronic shortage of organ donors in the Netherlands. With an average waiting list of four years, one of the longest in Europe, about 200 Dutch people die each year while waiting for a new kidney.

A fake reality television show earlier this year, which convinced viewers that contestants were vying for the kidney of a 37-year-old woman dying of a brain tumour, was praised for highlighting the shortage.

The plan to reward donors with free insurance was drawn up by the Dutch Health Council, which advises the health ministry.

Although it is illegal for a donor to sell a kidney, the council argues that the insurance option would provide an incentive to donate. It claims the dearth of kidneys has already boosted an illicit trade in organs from living donors.

“At the moment everybody pays €1,000-€1,100 [£700-£800] a year for basic health insurance,” said Dr Alies Struijs, the author of a council report that recommends the scheme. “If you are 30 years old and you donate and then live another 40 years, you could save €40,000-€50,000.”

Klink confirmed that he was considering including the idea in a wider strategy to boost organ donation, to be published early next year.

A leak of the proposal last week sparked a debate in the Dutch press as to whether it represented the first step towards a trade in human organs. Critics warned that it may put pressure on poorer people to give up their organs.

The scheme was welcomed by transplant campaigners. Bernadette Haase, the director of the Dutch Transplant Foundation, said: “If it is properly run and well organised, it could be a solution.”

A survey commissioned by the Erasmus medical centre in Rotterdam suggested that the idea would enjoy significant support. It found that up to 15% of the public said they would probably be willing to donate a kidney if they received compensation.

Professor Willem Weimar, who helped to conduct the survey, said potential donors were asked whether they would prefer €50,000 or free health insurance. Up to 80% chose the insurance.

Others called for more radical ways of ending the donor shortage. Andries Hoitsma, a professor of surgery, called for a regulated free market in kidneys with prices of up to €50,000.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2891069.ece