Funeral expense reimbursement as a strategy to enhance organ donation and transplantation access

We propose amending the National Organ Transplant Act to permit reimbursement of funeral expenses for deceased organ donors, analogous to current practices for whole-body donors. This ethically consistent policy could increase organ donation rates by 9–35%, saving 105,000–419,000 life-years and generating $200–800 million annually in Medicare savings—without commodifying human organs, compromising altruism, or undermining established ethical standards governing organ donation.