10 Reasons to Pass the End Kidney Deaths Act

The End Kidney Deaths Act (H.R. 2687): A Life-Saving, Cost-Saving Solution

The End Kidney Deaths Act is a 10-year pilot program offering a refundable tax credit of $10,000 per year over five years ($50,000 total) to Americans who donate a kidney to a stranger. These non-directed donations are essential to expanding access to living kidney transplants, the gold standard treatment for kidney failure.

Why This Matters:

  1. The Kidney Shortage Is a National Tragedy
    One Gold Star family lost their only son in Iraq. Now, their only daughter, Joanna, is dying from kidney failure. Despite 23 people stepping forward to donate, none qualified due to health issues. Joanna is one of 90,000 Americans waiting for a kidney. Without this bill, half will die waiting.

  2. The Act Will Save Lives and Money
    It’s projected to save up to 100,000 lives and $37 billion in taxpayer dollars within a decade.

  3. Dialysis Costs Are Unsustainable
    The federal government spends $50 billion annually, 1% of the budget, on dialysis, which costs about $100,000 per patient each year. A transplant ends this costly cycle and dramatically improves quality of life.

  4. Equity for Low-Income and Rural Americans
    These patients are most likely to die from kidney failure. This bill gives them a fighting chance by increasing access to transplants.

  5. People Die Waiting Not from Disease, but Delay
    Over 9,000 Americans die each year while on the waitlist. They are healthy enough to receive a transplant but die from the extended wait.

  6. Living Donors Shoulder Unfair Costs
    Half of donors lose money, spending 10% of their annual income on travel and time off. Donation involves months of testing, surgery, and recovery.

  7. Supply Hasn’t Kept Up With Demand
    Living donations have remained flat at around 6,000 annually for 24 years, while the need has doubled. Transplant centers report capacity for 100,000 additional transplants over the next decade—if donors come forward.

  8. Living Donation Dramatically Extends Lives
    A 30-year-old on dialysis may live 15 more years. A deceased donor transplant adds 30 years. A living donor transplant adds 40 years.

  9. Donors Are Healthy—and Stay Healthy
    Fewer than 2% of volunteers are approved to donate due to strict medical and psychological screening. Living kidney donors live longer than the general population. Donation is safer than childbirth. And 95% say they’d do it again.

  10. No Other Policy Has Moved the Needle
    This bill offers a well-designed, gradually allocated incentive. It respects and supports altruism while finally addressing the kidney shortage at scale.

We would never allow 100,000 Americans to die from lack of insulin. Why allow it for kidneys?

Compensating kidney donation with a tax credit is recognizing the donor’s bravery, compassion and generosity.

The End Kidney Deaths Act will honor that sacrifice and save lives.

Let’s live in a country where no one dies waiting for a kidney.