10 Reasons to Pass the End Kidney Deaths Act

The End Kidney Deaths Act is a 10 year pilot program that will provide a $10,000 refundable tax credit allocated over 5 years ($50,000 in total) for American non-directed kidney donors who donate their kidney to a stranger in order to greatly increase the supply of living kidney transplants, the gold standard for patients with kidney failure.

1. The kidney shortage is a tragedy. For example, one Gold Star family lost their only son in Iraq. Their only daughter Joanna is dying of kidney failure. 23 people have stepped forward to donate to her, but none qualified because they are not healthy enough. Joanna is one of 90,000 people seeking lifesaving kidneys. Unless we pass the End Kidney Deaths Act, half of them will die before receiving a kidney transplant.

2. The End Kidney Deaths Act will save up to 100,000 American lives and $37 billion in tax money by year ten.
3. Reduces the current cost of dialysis which is an astronomical $1 out of every $100 tax dollars or $50 billion annually. Once someone receives a kidney transplant, they end dialysis that costs taxpayers $100,000 per patient per year. 800,000 Americans are currently in kidney failure. In 2030, that number will grow to 1,000,000.
4. Provides far more kidney transplants for low income and rural Americans, those who are the most likely to die from kidney failure.
5. 9,000 Americans die every year from the kidney waitlist. All of them were healthy enough to receive a kidney when they joined the waitlist. Those on the waitlist are not dying from kidney disease itself but from the extended, often fatal wait time.
6. Half of living kidney donors are spending their own money to donate, on average 10% of their annual incomes on lost wages and travel costs. Currently only 300-400 Americans donate kidneys to strangers annually. Kidney donation is work that requires months of testing, a surgery and weeks of recovery time.
7. For the last 24 years, the number of living donors has been a consistent 6,000, while the number of people who need kidneys has doubled. Transplant centers’ reported that they have the capacity to increase the number of kidney transplants by over 100,000 in the next 10 years.
8. Kidney donation improves the lives of kidney failure patients as well as their families and friends. A 30-year-old on dialysis patient would have a life expectancy of 15 years. With a deceased kidney donor transplant, life expectancy increases to 30 years. A living donor kidney transplant increases life expectancy to 40 years.
9. Honors the choice to donate. 95% of living kidney donors state they would do it again if they could. Donors undergo a thorough physical and mental health screening. Less than one-third of Americans are estimated to be healthy enough to be approved for donation. Only 2% of those who step forward to donate actually donate. Most are medically disqualified. The need to be in top health results in living kidney donors living longer than the general population. Living kidney donation is safer than childbirth.
10. The End Kidney Deaths Act’s incentive is gradually allocated over time and sufficient to motivate far more people to save lives. No other law or policy proposal has increased the number of kidney donations. Without the End Kidney Deaths Act, the number of deaths from kidney failure will continue to devastate families.

Every American who can benefit from a new kidney should receive one so that all who are currently suffering can instead survive and thrive. Kidney donation is akin to a lifesaving medication.

No Americans should die while waiting for a new kidney.