Elimination of Insurance Discrimination Toward Living Organ Donors Within Reach After Bipartisan Majority of U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee Votes in Favor of The Living Donor Protection Act
Potential Living Organ Donors Cite Fear of Insurance Loss as Key Hesitancy
, /PRNewswire/ –The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the largest independent kidneypatient organization in America, issued the following statement today after the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee voted in favor of the Living Donor Protection Act (LDPA – S. 1552 – S.1552) on Thursday, February 26, 2026. The LDPA legislation mirrors two related pieces of widely supported, bipartisan legislation co-sponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representatives Don Bacon (R-NE) and Jerold Nadler (D-NY): H.R. 4582, and H.R. 4583. Advocates anticipate Congress will take final legislative action later this year.
TheLiving Donor Protection Act (LDPA) is specifically designedto remove one of the most frequentlycited barriers among altruisticlivingorgan donors – the fear and uncertainty surroundingpotential insurance discrimination, or loss, based solely on their decision to donate an organ. The legislation will protect living organ donors from the loss of life, disability income, or long-term care coverage. The legislation is a top strategic priority for kidney patients, organ donors, transplant experts, kidney doctors, and the insurance industry. Efforts to pass greater Congressional protections for living organ donors, as a means of increasing the nation’s organ supply and saving more innocent lives, date back over 20 years.
In 2018, under President Donald J. Trump, the U.S. Departmentof Labor (DOL) via the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, extended protections under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to many living organ donors based on original Congressional intent (read DOL guidance here/ read AAKP press release here/ watch DOL announcement here). The action by the U.S. Senate HELP Committee moves Congress one step closer to enshrining these protections permanently into federal law for all Americans who may consider, and be medically eligible, to donate a kidney to save another life.
Statement
“The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the largest independent kidneypatient organization in the nation, expresses our deep gratitude to the bipartisanmajority of theU.S. Senate Health Education, Labor and Pension Committee for voting in favor of the Living Donor Protection Act.Under the leadership of co-sponsors Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and acting alongside a tremendous coalitionof bipartisan Members of the U.S. House Representatives, America has moved closer to protecting courageous living organ donors from insurance discrimination based solely on their decision to help save the life of another human being. No society, including our own, can call itself truly advanced or civil if the altruistic instinct to selflessly save another life carries with it the risk of losing insurance protections and financial security.We express our deep appreciation and respect to the legions of principled transplant professionals, kidneydoctors, and top executives withinthe American life insurance industry for working collaboratively with the kidney patient and organ donor community to support the consensus language in this historic legislation. We alsohonor and remember the thousands of kidney patients who needlessly lost their lives while living on dialysis and the national organ wait list because no kidneys were available for transplantation.AAKP will exercise the full strength of our national grassroots capacities to help our Congressional champions gain final passage of this bipartisan legislation and to bring an end to one of the most frequently cited barriers to increased living organ donation.”
Edward V. Hickey, III
President
American Association of Kidney Patients
Since 1969, AAKP has elevated the patient voice to advance greater kidney patient consumer care choice and treatment innovations. By 1973, AAKP patients had successfully advocated the U.S. Congress and the White House to pass and implement legislation that ensures Americans with kidney failure access to dialysis and transplantation coverage. The resulting End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program, paid by U.S. taxpayers and administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), has since saved millions of innocent lives. In 2018, AAKP established the largest U.S. kidney voter registration program, KidneyVoters™.Over the past decade, AAKP patients have helped gain lifetime transplant immunosuppressive drug coverage for kidney transplant recipients (2020); new patient-centered policies via the White HouseExecutive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health(2019); and Congressional legislation allowing HIV-positive organ transplants for HIV-positive patients (2013). Follow AAKP on social media at@kidneypatienton Facebookand@kidneypatientson X,and visitwww.aakp.orgfor more information.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Brendan LaCivita
National and Medical Media Specialist
(813) 906-7740
[emailprotected]
SOURCE American Association of Kidney Patients
