LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Michigan legislators are moving to make sure life-saving transplants don’t come with morally compromised origins.
House Bill 5406, introduced Dec. 18 by State Rep. Jennifer Wortz (R-Quincy), would bar health insurers from covering organ transplants linked to countries accused of forced organ harvesting—a practice lawmakers say crosses an unmistakable moral line.
China is the primary target, though the bill applies to any country designated by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Under the proposal, insurers could not pay for a transplant performed in a listed country, nor cover a procedure involving an organ sourced there, even if the surgery itself takes place elsewhere. The restriction applies to insurance policies issued or renewed in Michigan.
The bill defines “forced organ harvesting” as the removal of organs from a living person through coercion, fraud, abuse of power, or exploitation—language aimed at separating voluntary donation from alleged state-linked practices abroad.
The measure is pending committee action and focuses on insurer practices, not patient conduct.