November 7, 2007 12:15PM 

# How to Increase Living Kidney Donation with Realistic Incentives 

By Cato Editors 

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Compared with dialysis, a kidney transplant significantly prolongs life and improves quality of life, but kidneys are scarce in large part because federal law prohibits the buying and selling of organs. In “[A Gift of Life Deserves Compensation: How to Increase Living Kidney Donation with Realistic Incentives](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8780),” author Arthur J. Matas examines the issue and concludes, “Whether concerns were well founded or not, the \[National Organ Transplant Act of 1984\] was clearly overbroad in its prohibition of the sale of organs. It’s time to loosen those restrictions in order to save lives.”

##### Related Tags 

[Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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