This House would let people sell one of their kidneys.
ethicsIran is the only country with a regulated kidney market. The waitlist for transplants there is near zero. Critics argue the policy commodifies the poor; defenders argue prohibition leaves people to die.
Background
About 100,000 Americans are on the kidney transplant waitlist; 13 die each day. Iran's regulated market, established in 1988, eliminated the country's waitlist within 11 years. Donors are compensated roughly $4,500 plus a year of insurance, with the government as broker. Studies by Sigrid Fry-Revere have found donor regret rates and health outcomes comparable to altruistic donors in the US.
The coercion critique has real teeth: 78% of Iranian donors in a 2014 survey reported financial distress as the primary motivation, and donor demographics skew heavily toward the bottom income quintile. The middle path, Singapore-style "rewarded gifting" with non-cash benefits like priority in future organ allocation, paid leave, and lifetime health insurance, has been proposed by Sally Satel and others. The motion as stated puts this on a binary, but most policy proposals sit on a spectrum between current prohibition and full markets.
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