Congress should adopt living donor protections; Guest Columnists

The late author Anne Morrow Lindbergh once said, "Life is a gift, given in trust - like a child."

Few understand that truth more deeply than some 2,500 Marylanders waiting for the gift of a kidney transplant, or the 152 individuals in our state who met that need last year through a selfless act of living-kidney donation. April is National Donate Life month and a good time for each of us to put ourselves in these Americans' shoes.

Imagine, for a moment, you are one of the men and women waiting for a kidney transplant. It is a race against the clock, with 200 of our neighbors across the state dying as they languished on organ transplant waiting lists in 2018 alone. Each one represents a story left incomplete, a family upended, and a precious human life lost to the cruel grips of disease.

Consider the humility required in reaching out to ask for something so personal as a gift of organ donation. Ponder the overwhelming kindness witnessed every time someone answers that plea.

Now imagine that your employer or your life, long-term care or disability insurer penalized you for offering up this gift of life. Sadly, you don't have to - it is a harsh reality in Maryland and across the nation.

Medicine has done its job to make living-organ donation a safe and effective option. Indeed, the late Maryland House Speaker Mike Busch underwent a successful liver transplant from a living donor - his sister - just over two years ago. The Capital reported at the time on the "overwhelmingly positive" outcomes of living organ donation.

Laws on the books, however, have not kept pace with the advancement of medicine. Indeed, a 2015 study of transplants performed at Johns Hopkins Hospital found that 25 percent of living donors who tried to change or initiate a life insurance policy were charged higher premiums or flat-out rejected because of their status as an organ donor.

What's more, there is no legal protection - in Annapolis or in Washington - to ensure that donors will not lose their jobs for taking time off work for organ donation surgery and recovery.

As a state lawmaker committed to reform and a living organ donor and National Kidney Foundation volunteer advocate who has faced insurance discrimination for this gift of life, this is a subject close to our hearts. In Maryland, we are fighting back with HB1284/SB705, legislation passed overwhelmingly in both chambers of the General Assembly this year to enshrine new legal protections for living donors across the state.

The bill would ensure no living donor sees their insurance canceled or denied solely because of false, harmful stigmas around safe living-organ transplantation. It would further stipulate that every living organ donor be permitted up to 60 business days in unpaid leave to recover from surgery after their selfless deed.

While we wait alongside advocates from the National Kidney Foundation and the American Kidney Fund for Gov. Larry Hogan's expected signing of the bill, and similar legislation has been enacted in five other states, too many across the country are still left without protection. We call upon Congress to expand upon our work by protecting living organ donors everywhere.

Groups like the National Kidney Foundation are leading the push in Congress to pass the bipartisan Living Donor Protection Act (S. 511/H.R. 1224).

Sponsored by Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Jaime Herrera-Beutler (R-WA) in the House of Representatives and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) in the Senate, this compassionate legislation would effectively expand the protections of the Maryland bill nationwide.

It would amend the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act to include living organ donation while also prohibiting life, disability, and long-term care insurance companies from limiting these donors' coverage or charging higher premiums solely due to their status as a living organ donor.

The bill further directs the Department of Health and Human Services to encourage more to consider organ donation.

We know that health care policy can be a heated and oftentimes a partisan subject but removing barriers to organ donation should be an easy call, as it would save lives, grow a healthier population and lower overall national health care expenditures.

During National Donate Life Month and throughout the year, let's all commit ourselves to making organ donation just as safe in the workplace and the insurance market as it is in the operating room.

Maryland's HB1284/SB705 and Congress's Living Donor Protection Act would do exactly that.

Del. Eric Luedtke, D-Montgomery, represents District 14 in the Maryland House of Delegates. Dave Sultzer is a Maryland resident, living organ donor, and volunteer advocate with the National Kidney Foundation

Credit: Eric Luedtke; Dave Sultzer - Del. Eric Luedtke, D-Montgomery, represents District 14 in the Maryland House of Delegates. Dave Sultzer is a Maryland resident, living organ donor, and volunteer advocate with the National Kidney Foundation