While the media focuses on partisan battles - here is a bi-partisan American story worthy of your attention and action. On Thursday, February 25, 2016, Congressman Jerrod Nadler (D-NY) and Congressman Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX), joined by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), introduced the Living Donor Protection Act of 2016. As more and more Americans await life-saving organs, this proposed law will protect living organ donors and remove a barrier to more donations. Join AAKP and contact your Congressional Representative and Senator and tell them to support this important legislation. Currently the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does not specify that living organ donors can take unpaid leave to recover from their donation, or guarantee that living donors will have their job waiting for them after surgery. In many cases the living donor's employer's company policy and health insurance plan has the final say as to exactly what the employee can expect to happen if they decide to become a living organ donor. At this time there is no protection against discrimination for the living organ donor in regard to purchasing individual health insurance, which every American citizen is now required to have. Some insurance carriers consider living organ donation to be a "pre-existing" condition, thereby either charging higher rates or denying coverage altogether to the living donor. AAKP strongly rejects the idea that altruistic living donors should face this type of discrimination simply because of their selfless desire to save a human life. The Living Donor Protection Act would protect living organ donors and promote organ donation in three easy, low-cost ways: 1.Prohibits life, disability, and long term care insurance companies from denying or limiting coverage and from charging higher premiums for living organ donors; 2.Clarifies that living organ donors may use FMLA time to recover from the surgeries and procedures involved in their donation; and 3.Directs Health & Human Services to update their materials on live organ donation to reflect these new protections and encourage more individuals to consider donating an organ. Now that the Living Donor Protection Act has been introduced it needs your help to be passed in order to become reality. You can help the process by contacting your local congressmen and state Senator to tell them that you support this bill and you need for them to do the same. After you send your message of support, join AAKP on Faccebook (www.facebook.com/kidneypatient/) and Twitter (@kidneypatients) and tell others how you took action!