Organ Trading? (2 Viewers)

[Graney]

Yeah, I'd been thinking about insurance.

It would only work if the supply of organs is close or equal to demand. Otherwise, if everyone who is likely to experience organ failure takes it out, the insurance company is screwed.

If the supply of organs is less than demand, the insurance would have to be prohibitively expensive.

 

[katie tully]

Well we're not really talking about China, we're talking about Australia. What China decides to implement and do is not really something we can dictate.

 

[loquasagacious]

I think that a legal organ trade would actually decrease exploitation and the organ black market. Being able to easily and legally buy an organ domestically would reduce organ tourism and the associated purchase of black market organs overseas. Basically it would be much harder for the overseas market to compete.

 

[katie tully]

Yeah, I'd been thinking about insurance.

It would only work if the supply of organs is close or equal to demand. Otherwise, if everyone who is likely to experience organ failure takes it out, the insurance company is screwed.

If the supply of organs is less than demand, the insurance would have to be prohibitively expensive.

Which would probably see them raise the premiums on everything to cover the expected losses, I imagine.

idk it's a theory. Perhaps it could still be done without the guarantee of a refund, given we already pay a premium for things we don't use (i.e. my insurance covers complementary medicines like naturopaths and shiz, something I'd never investigate).

 

[katie tully]

yeh this has been ongoing of decades, more so around the south-east Asian region, kids have been kidnapped, killed, and had their kidneys sold etc..

[citation needed]

 

[Serius]

Did you read my post?
Please explain how the extreme increase in available organs due to a financial incentive being present could occur while prices remained prohibitively high?

Did you read my post? i said free market. What is the price for life? If i needed an organ or i would die, i would sell everything i had, take out enormous debts and everything just to make sure i had a chance to live.

If it was heavily regulated, restrictions were in place, waiting periods and all of that, the government pays for it etc, then its almost like the government is paying you a token 'compensation' for your time[say $10 000 per kidney], in which case i could almost support that.

If its free market, then the seller might not be overly pressured by anyone, but they are simply pressured into selling a part of their body because they are poor and need the money. It seems wrong to me... donating an organ is supposed to be a wonderful gift, done for the right reasons. Buying organs off people makes a peverse mockery of this gift.

 

[loquasagacious]

Did you read my post? i said free market. What is the price for life? If i needed an organ or i would die, i would sell everything i had, take out enormous debts and everything just to make sure i had a chance to live.

If it was heavily regulated, restrictions were in place, waiting periods and all of that, the government pays for it etc, then its almost like the government is paying you a token 'compensation' for your time[say $10 000 per kidney], in which case i could almost support that.

If its free market, then the seller might not be overly pressured by anyone, but they are simply pressured into selling a part of their body because they are poor and need the money. It seems wrong to me... donating an organ is supposed to be a wonderful gift, done for the right reasons. Buying organs off people makes a peverse mockery of this gift.

We know that the demand cure is pretty inelastic and people are prepared to pay high prices - but this isn't the sole determinant of how a market would work.

There are for example far, far, far more people in Australia than there are people who need organ transplants. This means that while buyers would be willing to pay a high price the sellers will undercut each other and deliver a price which will probably be much lower than the amount many are willing to pay.

In this kind of market the buyers will probably be winners getting a greater utility from the organ than they paid for whereas the seller will have received a price relatively close to the cost of supply (using cost in the broader sense not the tangible costs).

 

[dieburndie]

By private investors, I meant buyers and sellers directly dealing with each other, though it's likely there would be organisations that would facilitate this exchange for a small fee. Ebay?

Most of Australia's millions of middle class could raise a loan of $50'000+ to pay for a life saving kidney, which is what I base my assumption of high values on. But I may be overestimating many peoples self-worth, not to mention their ability to negotiate.

In some countries trading is legal (e.g. phillipines). I wonder what the supply/demand for organs is like there, and if there's much organ shopping tourism.

It's very VERY common there for slum dwellers there to have sold kidneys for what is essentially a pittance. There also isn't much in the way of regulation on the quality of the surgical procedure itself, so apparently anything from nasty scarring to infection and death is a fairly frequent occurrence.

 

[Empyrean444]

We know that the demand cure is pretty inelastic and people are prepared to pay high prices - but this isn't the sole determinant of how a market would work.

There are for example far, far, far more people in Australia than there are people who need organ transplants. This means that while buyers would be willing to pay a high price the sellers will undercut each other and deliver a price which will probably be much lower than the amount many are willing to pay.

But that doesnt take into consideration issues surrounding compatability of different organs with different people. Considering that organs are not merely a standardised product, price competition between providers is not necessarily going to operate in such a balanced manner.

 

[Uncle]

more research into mechanical replacements of some internal organs.
that way dont worry about rejection, etc.

instead of spending 3 years at university doing some international studies degree.

then dont worry about mafia kidnap the child for organs or charlie the unicorn having his kidney stolen after being led to fake land.

and dont worry about geoffrey leonard after young boys to be part of him with their organs.

Indian Kidney Trade Dupes Laborers

Ha HA!

 

[loquasagacious]

But that doesnt take into consideration issues surrounding compatability of different organs with different people. Considering that organs are not merely a standardised product, price competition between providers is not necessarily going to operate in such a balanced manner.

Agreed that within the organ market there will be many sub-markets. Including artificial organs, pig/chimp organs and human organs of varying blood types/compatibilities.

People with less common compatibility profiles may be able to charge a premium, however I tend to think that there will be a smaller demand for these 'niche compatibility' organs. Hard to judge the ultimate appearance of this sub-market but I imagine that possible supply will still exceed possible demand to keep prices reasonable for buyers.