I am doodling a program that can increase organ donation via ObamaCare.
Funeral homes automatically deduct $1000 off the funeral expense of any person that carries an organ donation card. The funeral homes get reimbursed from the government. To fund this reimbursement, any person that needs an organ transplant pays $10,000 to be included in the waiting list. This inclusion fee is a medical expense and is covered by insurance. Under the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), everybody should have insurance. The healthcare insurance companies include the cost of the inclusion fee into the premium of all of their members (with a caveat below). With the cost such spread, the premium increment should be small. Low-income persons have their health insurance covered by Medicaid. To fund this Medicaid expansion, the government can raise the tax on funeral and other healthcare services, so that the program does not add to the budget deficit.
Individuals that donate an organ (such as bone marrow or kidney) do not pay the $10,000 inclusion fee if they later need an organ transplant. Living organ donations are still altruistic; however there is a small benefit for living organ donors: their healthcare premium can be smaller. Either by law or industry norm, healthcare insurance companies remove the inclusion fee increment from the healthcare premium of living donors.
I call this program Organ Donation Enrollment To Lessen Imminent Funeral Expense, or ODE TO LIFE.
