PROPOSAL FOR A MUTUAL INSURANCE POOL FOR TRANSPLANT ORGANS

Over the past decade there have been numerous proposals to use market system incentives to attenuate the persistent shortage of transplantab le human organs. While shortages have grown, opposition to market-base d solutions has remained adamant. Much of the opposition has focused o n monetary incentives. This article explores an alternative-a mutual i nsurance pool to increase the supply of organs. In the process, critic isms of earlier proposals (specifically the future delivery scheme) ar e addressed, the operation of an insurance pool is described, and prob lems associated with insurance markets are identified and addressed. T he article concludes that an insurance pool could overcome public and political resistance to more explicit market-based solutions.