The Living Donor Protection Act of 2019 introduced to Congress

On February 15^th, 2019, the Living Donor Protection Act of 2019, a longstanding priority of the ASN Policy and Advocacy Committee and the larger kidney and transplant community, has been reintroduced in Congress.  This act would ensure that insurance companies are prohibited from denying or limiting life, disability and long-term care insurance to living donors and from charging higher premiums.  It would also act to ensure job protection for living organ donors who may need medical leave during their organ donation and the time for recovery.  Representatives Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Jaime Herrera-Beutler (R-WA) have worked alongside Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) have introduced this bi-partisan legislation in order to protect living organ donors and remove barriers to donation.

30 million adults in the United States are estimated to have chronic kidney disease (CKD) making it that nearly 1 in 3 Americans are at risk.  Nearly 680,000 Americans have irreversible kidney failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) making it so that there are nearly 100,000 Americans currently on the waitlist for a kidney transplant.  More than 475,000 ESRD patients are receiving dialysis three times a week as they continue their time on the waitlist.  Not only would encouraging this act benefit both donors and recipients, it would also save money.  Medicare spends nearly $87,000 per dialysis patient while less than half of that is used on transplants, an estimated $32,500. 

“Removing barriers to living donation is a critical part of expanding access to life-saving transplants for those suffering from end-stage organ disease,” states Dixon B. Kaufman, MD, PhD and the President of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS).  “The [ASTS] strongly supports this milestone legislation and applauds Senators Cotton and Gillibrand and Representatives Nadley and Herrera-Beutler for introducing it.  The legislation targets two important impediments to organ donation: employment security and insurance coverage.  Advancing this legislation will make a real different for these individuals and families.” Roadblocks remain all too often for people looking to become living organ donors.  According to a 2014 study in the American Journal of Transplantation, as many as 27% of living organ donors experience difficulty securing or paying for insurance because of the discriminatory practices.  Anyone interested in kidney disease awareness should be encouraged to ask Congress to support the Living Donor Protection by contacting their legislators.