Help More People
Get Off Dialysis
Support living organ donation through common-sense legislation
Kidney transplant is the best treatment for kidney failure. But the United States is facing a severe kidney shortage. People who qualify for the transplant list often must wait years. By making it easier for people to be living donors, we can increase the available supply of donor kidneys, shorten the waiting list for everyone and save lives.
The issue
People who want to be living organ donors often face significant short- and long-term obstacles.
The most common short-term hurdle donors face is getting job-protected time off work for surgery and recovery. The U.S. Department of Labor issued an opinion in 2018 that the Family Medical Leave Act covers living organ donors. It’s time to solidify that opinion in law.
97,000
Americans are on the kidney transplant waiting list
22,000
Americans had kidney transplants
in 2018
6,400
kidney transplants in 2018 were from living donors
Over the long term, insurance companies routinely deny or limit organ donors' ability to get life, disability, and long-term care insurance policies. Even if donors are able to get a policy, they are often charged higher premiums—despite there being no evidence that living donors are at higher risk than people with two kidneys.
5 years
The average wait time for a kidney
12 people
Die each day while waiting
A 2010 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found no difference in long-term risk of death for kidney donors when compared to a similar group of healthy people with both kidneys. Prohibiting insurers from discriminating against living donors is sound public policy backed up by research.
Take action in Congress
You can work with us to change the law. The American Kidney Fund is advocating to pass legislation that will:
Guarantee living donors are able to take job-protected leave for the surgery and recovery
Prohibit life, disability and long-term care insurance companies from denying or limiting coverage
Prohibit life, disability and long-term care insurance companies from charging higher premiums for living organ donors.
Help us make 2019 the year that living organ donors receive legal protection for their selfless act. Send a message to Congress urging passage of the federal Living Donor Protection Act of 2019.
SEND A MESSAGE TO CONGRESS
Take action in your state
If you live in one of the states below, send a message to your state lawmakers telling them to vote in favor of state legislation protecting living donors.
Arizona - Ask your state senator to vote YES on SB 1100 to support organ donors
Colorado - Ask your state lawmakers to vote YES on HB1253 to support organ donors!
Illinois - Ask your state lawmakers to vote YES on HB 2847 to support organ donors!
Nebraska - Ask your state senator to support LB 228 to support organ donors
New Jersey - Ask your state lawmakers to vote YES on A1510/A2457/S377 to support living organ donors
New York - Ask your state lawmakers to vote YES on bills to support living organ donors
Minnesota - Ask your Minnesota state lawmakers to vote YES on SF 1146 to support organ donors!
Ohio - Ask your state lawmakers to vote YES on HB 41 to support organ donors!
Oregon - Ask your Oregon state lawmakers to vote YES on SB 796 to support organ donors!
Pennsylvania - Ask your Pennsylvania state lawmakers to vote YES to support organ donors!
Vermont - Ask your state lawmakers to vote YES on HB 322 to support organ donors!
Learn more about
living kidney donation
If you have two healthy kidneys, you may be able to donate one of your kidneys to enhance or save someone else’s life. Both you and the recipient of your kidney (the person who got your kidney) can live with just one healthy kidney. Get more information on the process of living kidney donation.
DONATE TODAY TO HELP AKF MAKE MORE TRANSPLANTS POSSIBLE!
http://www.kidneyfund.org/advocacy/living-donor-protection-act/