By KADEN DOWDEN
Sheridan High School Student
Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
There are thousands of Americans who are in need of some organs like kidneys, livers and other vital organs. There are also millions of Americans who are able to donate their organs, and there is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has the money. With these three factors, the United States has the ability to make this into a capitalistic market.
So why would this not be legal? The Americans need money, they have the product, Americans also need organs, and the health industry has the money to fund this. Could it be that the health industry is too stingy? We already know that because of how expensive health care is, but I am not going to get into that.
According to The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, there are over 14,000 people currently on the liver transplant waiting list, desperately in need of livers. These are real people, with real husbands, wives, children and families. These people are slowly dying because there are not enough livers for them. If the health industry were to incentivize poorer Americans with healthy livers, then the number of people on that list would be incredibly lower. Americans would also have more money in their pockets for bills, rent, debt, and food for their families. The health industry has so much money; it absolutely baffles me why this is not already in action.
According to PolicyAdvice.net, the global health industry is worth a grand total of $8.5 trillion. This number is expected to increase to $10 trillion by 2022. So if not into this, where is all of this money going?
An estimated $262 billion goes to the doctors themselves in the United States alone. Doctors could still comfortably live if they made half of what they currently make. Assuming this, a liver costs around $500,000. Using simple math, if doctors’ paychecks were cut by 50 percent, the United States could afford over 262,000 livers. This is more than needed, so doctors’ paychecks would still be incredibly high compared to what the average U.S. worker makes.
So now that we have established that the United States has the funds to make this happen, that the U.S. citizens need the money, and that there are thousands of dying people sitting on the transplant list, why are we not making this happen?
I believe there to be one simple answer: Greed. The 1 percent do not want their money to be taken away, when they could live comfortably while giving it to people who need it. If I were in their position, I know that I would help people who need it. Greed is a terrible thing, and unfortunately there is not a whole lot that we could do to convince the 1 percent to do with their wealth. All we can really do is show them examples of families that may be struggling, and hope that they can find it in their heart to take a pay cut in order to help people gain longer lives and help others monetarily.