An aftereffect

This was brought to my attention by a faithful reader.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17507534/site/newsweek
In a nutshell. Once you receive an organ in a transplant, you will still fight for the rest of you life OR until your insurance runs out.

Here's the dilemma. Do you get the transplant to extend your life. Will your insurance support you? And for how long? Once insurance runs out (like a lifetime cap) what next? The article uses a $13,000 per year for medicines. That's a bit more than $1,000 a month. Or the cost of a decent middle class house in the fringe of the suburbs. (Or a couch in NY City).

I have to say, I didn't think about this aspect of organ donation. Even though I am obviously advocating DONATION, someone has to be a recipient. The recipient also has a burden to bear in finances after their life has miraculously been extended or saved. How about a pediatric patient. Some little boy at the age of 3 needing a liver. For the next year, he's probably good to go. But insurance will run out, maybe it's at 13 years old. Now he's a lively teenager. He maxxed out the lifetime benefits. The parents can't find more insurance and now they can't afford to buy the medicines that will keep their son's liver from being rejected. His health worsens. He gets jaundice. The liver fails. He dies a week before he turns 14.

That was of course fictional.

Or was it?