National Kidney Foundation Applauds Legislation to Protect Living Organ Donors

NEW YORK, March 2 -- The National Kidney Foundation issued the following news release:

Living organ donors can suffer job losses, denial of insurance coverage, and significantly higher health-insurance premiums after giving the gift of life, but four bipartisan Members of Congress have come together to change that by introducing The Living Donor Protection Act of 2021 (LDPA), S. 377 and H.R. 1255.

"We applaud Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) for joining together to reintroduce the Living Donor Protection Act (LPDA), which will help advance kidney transplantation and remove critical barriers to organ donation," said Kevin Longino, CEO, National Kidney Foundation and a kidney transplant patient.

Specifically, the Living Donor Protection Act of 2021 will protect living organ donors and promote organ donation in three easy, low-cost ways:

* Prohibits life, disability, and long-term care insurance companies from denying or limiting coverage and from charging higher premiums for living organ donors;

* Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to specifically include living organ donation as a serious health condition for private and civil service employees, and;

* Directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to update their materials on live organ donation to reflect these new protections and encourage more individuals to consider donating an organ.

Every day, 17 patients die on the transplant waitlist, 12 die waiting for a kidney. Of the over 100,000 patients on the waitlist, only 22,817 received a kidney transplant in 2020. Patients wait an average of 3-5 years for a kidney transplant, but in some states the wait can be as long as 10 years. The availability of living donors is crucial to the survival of many kidney patients. Living donation was responsible for a total of 5,726 transplants in 2020, a decrease of 22.6 percent over the record of 7,397 living donor transplants set in 2019. Living organ donation not only saves lives, it saves money. Each year, Medicare alone spends approximately $89,000 per dialysis patient and less than half, $35,000, for a transplant patient.

Quotes from Members of Congress

"There are few acts more selfless than donating an organ to someone else. To donate an organ is to save someone's life--those who make that sacrifice should be able to do so without facing needless roadblocks or insurance discrimination. Yet, with insurance companies charging living organ donors higher premiums or refusing them coverage altogether, it can often feel economically impossible to donate an organ," said Rep. Nadler. "The Living Donor Protection Act, which I'm proud to sponsor alongside Rep. Hererra Beutler and Senators Gillibrand and Cotton, seeks to knock down those roadblocks and provide selfless donors with the certainty they deserve."

"The Living Donor Protection Act would encourage more organ donors to step forward by protecting them from denial of insurance coverage, higher health-insurance premiums, and job loss. Not only do living organ donors save lives, but these transplants have better patient outcomes and are more cost-effective for the Medicare system," saidSenator Cotton.

"I appreciate NKF's longstanding work on behalf of living donors and am happy to work with them and bipartisan colleagues in the House and Senator Cotton to sponsor the Living Donor Protection Act," said Senator Gillibrand. "There are far too many people who have to wait far too long to receive a life-saving organ transplant. The bipartisan Living Donor Protection Act would help ensure that the individuals who are willing to save someone's life through an organ donation can do so without facing insurance discrimination or losing their job as they recover from their generous act. I urge all my colleagues to cosponsor the Living Donor Protect Act and help us pass this bill this Congress.

"We lose a dozen American lives each day because folks are forced to wait too long for kidney transplants. But there's hope here; there's action Congress can take to help get more people this life-saving treatment before it's too late. I'm proud to help reintroduce the Living Donor Protection Act that will protect living organ donors and remove barriers for those waiting in a long line to receive a transplant. I'm going to continue championing common-sense, bipartisan solutions that seek to match life-saving organs with the thousands of Americans who desperately need them." - Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler

Quote from the American Council of Life Insurers

"The Living Donor Protection Act makes certain someone is not denied access to life, disability or long-term care insurance coverage solely because of their selfless act to be a living organ donor," said American Council of Life Insurers President and CEO Susan Neely. "America's life insurers have long been committed to providing access to financial security for all Americans, regardless of where or how they work, their life stage, or the economic status of their household. That is why we strongly support this bill and hope it will help more people choose to save a life through organ donation."