AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEPHROLOGY AND 21 KIDNEY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON CONGRESS TO PROTECT LIVING DONORS

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (TNSgov)(TNScapv) -- The American Society of Nephrology issued the following news release:

Members of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and 21 organizations representing people with kidney diseases and the health care professionals who treat them will meet with their members of Congress to call for the protection of living organ donors by advancing the Living Donor Protection Act (H.R. 1255/S. 377).

Kidney Diseases in the United States

More than 37,000,000 Americans are living with kidney diseases, including nearly 800,000 with kidney failure, a life-threatening condition for which there is no cure. Kidney diseases disproportionately impact on Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous Americans and are costly to the American public. Annually, Medicare spends nearly $140 billion on the care of all Americans with kidney diseases, including more than $50 billion to manage the care of people with kidney failure.

A kidney transplant is the optimal and most cost-effective therapy for most people with kidney failure, however a national shortage of organs means that 13 Americans die every day while waiting on the nearly 100,000-person kidney transplant wait list. Increasing living donation is important for expanding the availability kidney transplants, yet one in four organ donors report difficulty securing life, disability, and long-term care insurance after providing the gift of life among other barriers.

Sponsored by U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler, D-NY and Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-WA, and with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY and Tom Cotton R-AR, the Living Donor Protection Act (H.R. 1255/S. 377) ensures insurance companies offering life, disability, and long-term care plans do not deny or limit coverage or raise premiums based on an individual's status as a living organ donor and codifies that living organ donors can take Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) time to recover from donation surgery and maintain job security.

Congress must support people with kidney diseases by removing barriers to living donors and increasing access to kidney transplantation. Advancing the Living Donor Protection Act is an important first step for increasing access to this important therapy. Please contact your member of Congress and urge them to take action to support living donors: https://www.asn-online.org/policy/lac.aspx?ID=2

2022 Kidney Community Advocacy Day Partner Organizations:

American Association of Kidney Patients

American Kidney Fund

American Nephrologists of Indian Origin

American Nephrology Nurses Association

American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology

American Society of Nephrology

American Society of Pediatric Nephrology

American Society of Transplant Surgeons

American Society of Transplantation

Children's Organ Transplant Association

Home Dialyzors United

IGA Nephropathy Foundation of America

National Kidney Foundation

NephCure Kidney International

Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation

Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation

Rare Kidney Disease Foundation

Renal Healthcare Association

Renal Pathology Society

Renal Physicians Association

Society for Transplant Social Workers

Veterans Transplant Association

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Original text here: https://www.asn-online.org/about/press/releases/ASN_PR_20220928_FINALKCAD_Press_Rel.pdf