Luján, Boozman Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Increase Organ Donations and Save Lives

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and John Boozman (R-AR) introduced the Honor Our Living Donors (HOLD) Act to expand support for more living donors by allowing more donors compensation to cover wages, travel, child care and caregiver expenses associated with donation. Each day, 17 Americans die while waiting for an organ transplant, with many of these patients suffering from kidney failure and undergoing costly and painful dialysis treatments.

Dialysis alone costs Medicare more than $50 billion annually. Under the current law, the Living Organ Donation Reimbursement Program helps low-income donors with reimbursements for expenses. However, the program’s impact is limited by income restrictions, preventing many potential donors from qualifying. Despite over 92,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list, only about 6,000 living donations take place each year, in part due to the financial strain placed on donors. The HOLD Act seeks to alleviate this burden, encouraging more people to become living donors.

Costs for associated with donations can exceed $10,000 and are a main barrier for living donors. To make it easier for donors that are selflessly giving the gift of life, the HOLD Act prohibits the consideration of recipient income when determining eligibility for financial reimbursement to support more low-and middle-income donors; delivers savings to Medicare by increasing living donation; and assesses the efficacy of the Living Organ Donation Reimbursement Program through an annual report to Congress.

“Every day, Americans lose their lives waiting for an organ transplant while generous living donors are unable to step forward because of the financial burden it could place on themselves and their families,” said Senator Luján. “This bill will help remove those barriers, ensuring that if you are interested in giving the greatest gift, they will not have to choose between their livelihood and the opportunity to save a life. By empowering living organ donors with the resources they need, we may increase the number of donors, reduce the transplant waitlist, and save lives.”

“Organ donation saves thousands of lives each year and we can potentially save even more by increasing the pool of donors,” said Senator Boozman. “This legislation would assist in breaking down barriers so financial considerations do not prevent Americans from meeting this urgent need. I’m proud to join Senator Luján on this bipartisan initiative.”

“The Honor Our Living Donors (HOLD) Act will provide low income living organ donors with a cost neutral organ donation by removing recipient income from the National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC) application and focusing solely on the critical factor, donor income. NLDAC, a federal living donor reimbursement system, currently requires that for donors to qualify for funding both donor and recipient income be below $53,000 for an individual,” said Waitlist Zero. “Many low-income Americans, especially rural Americans, cannot bear the cost of being a living organ donor due to the travel expenses to the transplant center as well as the lost wages incurred while they are tested and recover from the surgery. Senator Luján and Boozman’s HOLD Act will reduce the kidney and liver donor waitlist by increasing the number of living organ donations, the gold standard for patients with chronic kidney and liver disease.” 

This legislation is endorsed by many community organizations. Their letter of support can be found here.

Full text of the bill can be found here and a summary of the bill is here.

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