As many as 17% of all the kidneys and livers donated for transplant in US hospitals were donated by individuals who did not have health insurance coverage from any source.  These same uninsured Americans receive less than 1% of all transplanted livers or kidneys, though, a situation that “dramatically highlights the lack of fairness in the US healthcare system,” according to Steffie Woolhandler, associate professor of medicine at Harvard University and co-author of a recent study of organ donors.

In their report, Woolhandler and lead author Andrew Herring write about how the current healthcare system denies uninsured Americans while they are alive but depends heavily upon them for their donated organs once they’re dead.  According to the report, uninsured Americans are 20 times more likely to give than to receive this “ultimate gift.”  The ‘International Journal of Health Services’ carries the report in its current issue.  Herring is filling his emergency medicine residency at Oakland, California’s Highland Hospital.

According to Woolhandler and Herring:

• 44.2% of all transplant recipients are covered by private insurance.
• An additional 44.2% of them are covered by Medicare.
• Medicaid patients account for 9% of all transplant recipients.
• Various other programs cover the costs of an additional 2% of all transplant recipients.
• The remaining 0.6% of transplant recipients are uninsured.

Of organ donors, the team finds:

• 45% had private insurance.
• 14.6% were covered by Medicare.
• 2.6% were Medicaid patients.
• 20% identified their insurance coverage as ‘other,’ which often means their medical expenses are being paid by organizations devoted to organ procurement.
• The remainder of donors, almost 17%, were uninsured.

In a news release, Herring says few medical centers ever consider uninsured patients as transplant candidates, in spite of Congressional protocols calling for equity in organ transplants.  Woolhandler voiced her concern that the only way to overcome this medical bias is by adopting a single-payer healthcare system that provides every American with comprehensive medical care on an equal basis.

Source: Washington Post