On Thursday, February 25th, 2016, the Living Donor Protection Act (H.R. 4616/S. 2584) was introduced by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Representative Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX) in the House of Representatives, and Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in the Senate. This bill will protect living organ donors and remove barriers to donation by prohibiting insurance companies from denying or limiting life, disability and long term care insurance to living donors, and from charging higher premiums. The bill also clarifies that living organ donors may use time granted through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to recover from donation. Email your Representative and Senators to support this important legislation.

Kidneys can be donated by a living individual in good health. The wait list for a kidney transplant is long and many individuals will die before ever receiving a kidney transplant. There are over 100,000 people waiting to receive a kidney transplant. In 2014, 17,108 kidney transplants were performed, one-third of which were made possible by living donors. Living donors make a substantial contribution to increasing the number of transplants performed each year. We must act to ensure living donors are protected and that barriers such as fear of job loss and unfair practices by insurance companies are removed.

Please personalize your emails to your elected officials to share your (or your family’s) story as someone waiting on the transplant list, as an organ donor, or as a transplant patient. Thank you for contacting your Representative and Senators on behalf of kidney disease patients and those living kidney donors who deserve these protections.
Thank you,
Kevin Longino
CEO, National Kidney Foundation