National Kidney Foundation: Congress Should Act on Living Donor Protection Act During Donate Life Month

NEW YORK, April 7 (TNStalk) -- The National Kidney Foundation issued the following statement:

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In recognition of Donate Life Month, the National Kidney Foundation is urging Congress to act on The Living Donor Protection Act of 2021 (LDPA), S. 377 and H.R. 1255. A statement from Kevin Longino, Chief Executive Officer of the National Kidney Foundation and a kidney transplant recipient follows:

"April is Donate Life month and there is no better time than right now for Congress to enact the Living Donor Protection Act. The National Kidney Foundation strongly supports this bill and the best way to honor and celebrate living donors is to advance this bill this month. Kidney patients and donors literally can't afford to wait another year.

Every day, 12 people die waiting for a kidney transplant. Patients wait up to 5 years for a kidney transplant, and in some states the wait can be as long as a decade. This can't continue and Congress must act now. Living donors are crucial to the survival of many kidney patients, and they do not deserve any discrimination because of their selfless gift of life. I'd like to thank Senators Gillibrand and Cotton and Representatives Nadler and Herrera Beutler for their continued leadership in sponsoring and shepherding this bill. This is common sense, bipartisan, cost-neutral legislation that has already been enacted by 20 states, with more poised to follow suit. Congress must advance this bill forward."

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.