Congress Seeks to End Discrimination Against Living Organ Donors

Senators Tom Cotton and Kirsten Gillibrand Lead Protection Bill

Organ Donors and Kidney Patients Ramp Up Grassroots Support 

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the nation's largest and oldest independent kidney patient advocacy organization, announced today that it has expanded and accelerated its national grassroots campaign to support Congressional action against job and insurance discrimination faced by the nation's courageous living organ donors. AAKP, alongside a broad and diverse coalition of patient organizations, transplant experts, and Congressional allies, is working to secure passage of the Living Donor Protection Act (LDPA), S. 1552/H.R. 4582 and H.R. 4583, in 2026.

The bipartisan bill protects living organ donors from insurance and job discrimination based solely on their decision to donate a kidney to save another life, barriers cited most often by potential organ donors. The bipartisan legislation is led by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). It was voted out of the Senate HELP Committee on February 26, 2026, with full bipartisan support, the endorsement of AAKP, the larger kidney community, and the American Council of Life Insurance (ACLI).

In 2018, with bipartisan support from Congress and the Trump Administration, AAKP and transplant professionals worked with the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) legal team and the DOL Wage and Hour Division to have DOL issue Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protections for living organ donors, based on the original intent of the FMLA's Congressional co-sponsors (click here to read the letter and click here to watch the video). Congressional passage of the LDPA in 2026 will codify the DOL's 2018 FMLA job protections and prohibit insurers from discrimination against living donors. Increased living organ donation, improved transplant readiness among kidney patients, and greater opportunities for transplantation have been national goals for decades and were reinforced in 2019 through the Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health.

AAKP is coordinating its LDPA campaign with allied organizations including the Renal Physicians Association (RPA), the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS), the American Society of Transplantation (AST), the Organization for Donation and Transplant Professionals (NATCO), the Rare Kidney Disease Foundation (RKDF), the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), and many other kidney stakeholders at the state and local level. AAKP's LDPA efforts coincide with its recently announced 2026 national nonpartisan KidneyVoter™ registration campaign, "50 States in 50 Days". AAKP encourages KidneyVoters™ to use their voices, votes, and social media circles to mobilize like-minded voters and to ask Congressional leaders and Congressional candidates to support policies that positively impact the health, continued employment, and lives of both organ donors and kidney patients. In 2024, AAKP engaged over 500,000 KidneyVoters™, resulting in a new "micro-constituency" within the American electorate, according to election experts.

AAKP President Edward V. Hickey, III, a chronic kidney disease patient, stated, "AAKP is fully committed to removing longstanding barriers to increased living organ donation, and we have deep respect for the bipartisan efforts of Senators Tom Cotton and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as their House allies, to secure passage of the Living Donor Protection Act. Organ transplantation saves both lives and livelihoods while reducing taxpayer costs associated with long-term dialysis treatment and unemployment. Protecting noble organ donors from potential job and insurance discrimination will remove one of the primary reasons potential donors have historically cited for choosing not to donate." Hickey is a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, a former senior Congressional aide, and has served in appointed roles in two presidential administrations. He currently serves on the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Nephrology Specialty Board and as the Chair of the AAKP Veterans Health Initiative (VHI). The VHI connects U.S. Veterans impacted by heart, kidney, and metabolic diseases to the health services they have earned and are legally entitled to, including organ transplants, through the Veterans Health Agency of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 

The 2018 DOL guidance was a major milestone on America's 20-year journey to end job and insurance discrimination for living organ donors. Following the 2018 DOL announcement, AAKP bestowed career civil servants within the DOL Wage and Hour Division with its prestigious National Public Service Award, the first award of its type within the kidney community, for demonstrating the highest level of professional excellence and results on behalf of American citizens, taxpayers, and the national interest.

AAKP Vice President and Chair of Policy Paul T. Conway, a 29-year kidney transplant recipient and 49-year kidney patient, stated, "From Maine to Washington state, the devastating reality is that kidney patients living on dialysis lose their lives prematurely and unnecessarily while awaiting a life-saving kidney transplant. Senators Cotton and Gillibrand deserve commendation for leading a bipartisan solution that addresses the serious concerns of potential organ donors while offering renewed hope to kidney patients and a strategic step toward solving the ongoing organ shortage crisis. For living organ donors, Congressional approval of the LDPA will move the nation closer to its ideals and legacy of honoring all citizens whose first and selfless instinct is to save the life of a fellow American." Conway has served in appointed roles under four presidential administrations, including service as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Labor. He served as the inaugural Chair of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) and presently serves as Chair of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Renal Disease Council. He received his donated kidney from an accident victim and was transplanted at the Virginia Commonwealth University Hume-Lee Transplant Center in 1997 after three years of dialysis and years on the organ transplant waiting list.

Kidney transplants remain the preferred therapy, for those medically eligible, over status quo and high mortality dialysis treatments for Americans living with kidney failure. More than 37 million Americans are living with kidney disease, nearly 600,000 are receiving dialysis treatment for kidney failure, and over 90,000 are awaiting a kidney transplant and remain at risk of premature death. Further, interrelated cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic diseases have impacted more than 25% of the adult population and are a leading cause of death. More broadly, an estimated 90% of U.S. adults, or approximately 240 million people, have some degree of interconnected cardiovascular, kidney, or metabolic health conditions according to the American Heart Association.

AAKP provides advocacy skill and social media training for patients and organ donors through its Center for Patient Engagement and Advocacy with a faculty of allied government affairs and political experts. AAKP advocates engage regularly with Congressional leaders on the U.S. House Ways and Means, Government Oversight, Budget, Armed Services and Rules Committees, as well the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP), Finance, Budget, Armed Services, Rules and Administration, and Veterans Affairs Committees.

Follow AAKP on social media at @kidneypatient on Facebook, @kidneypatients on X, and @kidneypatients on Instagram, and visit http://www.aakp.org for more information. Over the past decade, AAKP patient advocates have advanced bipartisan kidney policy including: passage of the bipartisan law modernizing the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) (2023); lifetime transplant drug coverage for kidney transplant recipients (2020); the historic Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health signed by President Donald Trump (2019); job protections for living organ donors under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) via the U.S. Department of Labor (2018); and Congressional approval of HIV positive organ transplants for HIV positive patients (2013).

MEDIA CONTACT:
Brendan LaCivita
National and Medical Media Specialist
[email protected]
(813) 906-7740

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SOURCE American Association of Kidney Patients